Framing the Shadow
by Tru Mel Meiko Mei Ling
Summary: Set exactly after the events of SA2. Just as Rouge begins to get closer to Knuckles, she receives a mysterious contact from Shadow and agrees to do what he asks...for a price.A certain echidna knows that something is up and isn't taking it well
1. The Actress is Called to the Stage

Framing the Shadow: Chapter I

"So, Rouge, what will you do now? Go back to jewel hunting?"

Gazing out the window of the Space Colony Ark, the sensual white bat casually took her attention away from it and addressed her emerald-guarding comrade. With a liquidy alluring look glistening deeply in her turquoise eyes, she casually shrugged and folded her arms over her voluptuous chest. "Not this time…." She paused, giving him a placid look. "I think, I've actually found something more precious than jewels that I'm thinking about right now…" She said smugly and turned her attention back to the window, secretly hoping he'd get what she meant . Catching onto her hint, Knuckles nodded and with a small smile, reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "Here."

Taking the small slip between her fingers, Rouge opened the note and raised an eyebrow. Speechless, she glanced up at Knuckles, who had his head lowered and his attention bashfully adverted away from her. "Um...most of the time, I'll be guarding the Master Emerald, but…" he paused to pass her an embarrassed glance "…you can stop by if you'd like." Not taking her eyes off him, Rouge wordlessly nodded.

Unsure if her silence meant she approved of his company or otherwise, Knuckles nervously cleared his throat and replaced his bashful sensitivity with his usual rugged masculinity. "Well, then…call me." And with that, he turned on his heels and sped off to the other side of the ship where the others were.

A soft smile crept itself across Rouge's lips while she watched him go. He was so sensitive when it came to women, it was cute. She continued to watch him for a few seconds longer before returning her eyes back to the window. As her eyes lingered off into the vast pools of stars, she found her mind drifting into other thoughts. The world had been saved; she had been partners with the most noble hedgehog she had ever met; and was able to gain the affectionate attention of that red-blooded echidna she had especially grown fond of.

"Hey there, Knucklehead." Sonic playfully greeted to Knuckles as he came over to where he stood. Once there, Knuckles casually slapped hands with Sonic, then coolly leaned against a wall near a window. "Yeah, what's good?"

"Well", Sonic began, leaning next to Knuckles on the wall with his legs crossed, "I see you're coming out of your shell."

The red echidna raised an inquiring eyebrow at the prankish hedgehog. " 'My shell'? "

"Yeah, you know what I mean!" Sonic said, nudging him with his elbow and pointing across to the other side of the ship. Following the direction with his eyes, Knuckles found himself staring at Rouge. She stood looking out one of the windows. Her wings fanned slightly around her, as if to prove as an amplifier for her deep thoughts.

Feeling his face grow hot, he quickly took his attention off her, and found himself face to face with Sonic, who had a silly sly grin on his face. Frowning, Knuckles pushed him away. "Knock it off!"

"What? I didn't say anything!" Sonic innocently retaliated. "But you know, it's good that you're listening to your heart rather than to the echoes in that hard hollow head of yours."

With a growl, Knuckles tossed Sonic a deadly glare and a raised fist. "You better watch yourself, Blue…!"

"Tch. Relaaaax, Knuckles! I'm only telling the truth! Oh…hey! She's looking this way!"

"What?" Knuckles asked skeptically, turning to look over at Rouge. And just as Sonic said, she was looking at him. Although her lips were curved in a smile, her eyes seemed reserved and a little lost. Knuckles could feel his eyes narrow as the warmth in his cheeks subsided. He could tell that she was deeply thinking about something, or rather someone, a lot more than what she let on--- to him, the others, and probably herself.

Suspicious of her thoughts, yet not wanting to be rude, Knuckles waved to Rouge, then turned on his heels to leave the upper level of the space colony.

"Hey, where're you goin'?" Sonic wondered, watching him go.

In response to Sonic's voice, Knuckles paused and glanced over his shoulder at the hedgehog. "To the departure pods….I've got a lot on my mind. I'll see you later." And with that he was gone.

Perplexed, Sonic scratched his spiky head, then shrugged it off and went over to converse with Tails and Amy before they all left for their departure pods at the base of the space colony.

Once alone, Rouge peered down at the world below. The space colony was nearing closer to her planet's atmosphere. Entwined in her thoughts, her eyes narrowed at the break between the atmosphere and the stratosphere, where that enigmatic hedgehog faded into after helping Sonic save the space colony as well as the planet. "Shadow…" She shuddered as his name tumbled as a whisper from her lips. He was rather puzzling and seemed to be as much of a mystery to himself as he was to others. Rouge sighed as a gloved hand gently touched the glass of the window while her mind still stirred with theories and thoughts. Shadow's supposed sacrifice was a noble thing to do, but on a lighter note, if she hadn't changed his way of thinking by snooping around in his business, then she and Knuckles wouldn't have even bothered to get as close as they were at the current moment. Somewhere deep down in her heart, Rouge secretly wished for Shadow to still be alive somewhere so she could thank him for what he'd done…for her and for the world. As her reminiscing subsided, Rouge had become aware of how close the ship was to their home planet.

It was time for her to go.

With a small smirk lacing across her scarlet lips, Rouge tossed a silent thank you into the vast space of twinkling celestial bodies-hoping that wherever Shadow was, he would feel her utmost respect for him and his actions.

"Attention Rouge the Bat!" Dr Eggman announced from the ark's intercom system. Turning her head towards the device, Rogue suddenly realized that all the time she spent thinking, all the others had gathered into their dispatching pods and she was the only one left! "Hurry up!" he continued " The pods are ready to be released! Do you want to stay here and become a fricasseed fried bat when this ship enters the atmosphere?"

"Allright allright! I heard you!" Rouge snapped, even though she couldn't be heard. "You don't have to spook me..." With an annoyed hand on her hip, she proceeded to make her way to the pods when the faint sound of static resonated in her ear. "What the..." she wondered, instinctively tapping her ear-piece, "Is someone there?"

"**_Ru…ge…..R…ge…can…u….. er…me…_**."

Trying to make out the garbled message, Rouge pressed the ear-piece deeper into her ear as an attempt to get better clarity. "What? Who is this?"

"**_…. Can you…hear……me?_**"

Fully recognizing the voice, Rouge gasped and took a step back. "…You… Shadow…you're alive?"

There was a pause.

"Shadow?"

"**_….Listen to me…Rouge. …Th…re…There isn't much time….I..I need to ask a favor ..of you…_**"

"…She's still not here yet…" Knuckles bluntly stated, already strapped into his pod.

"What!" Sonic exclaimed, in the same pod strapped in across from him. "How would you know that?"

"..I'm not making it up.." Knuckles replied with a hint of a growl in his voice, " I can feel it.."

Sonic gave his comrade a rather unsure expression; partly sincere, partly confused. If Rouge still really was in the space colony, then she had to get out of there before she and the colony became a display of fireworks upon reaching the atmosphere.

"Then what are we doing sitting here? We have to get her out!" Sonic exclaimed, already clawing at the buckles and straps on his safety equipment. "Man, this thing is like a straight-jacket! I can't get it off!" Glancing to Knuckles, he smirked. "Don't worry, I'll help you out of there in no time…Just as soon as I get out of these things..!"

Wordlessly, Knuckles watched Sonic relentlessly gnaw, pull and fight against the straps and buckles that securely and safely kept him in place for departure. Needless to say, his vain attempts weren't working.

"Grrrr!" Sonic growled, still forcefully trying to break out of the straps "What was I thinking letting Eggman wrap these things up so tight! It feels more like a restraint than a safety mechanism!"

Finally choosing to block out the hedgehog's bothersome complaints, Knuckles warily stared at Sonic's safety straps and analyzed how they were put on. There was a belt around the waist, two diagonally across the shoulders and one around the ankles. The structure was so simple, Knuckles had to hold back his growing irritation at Sonic for making things harder than what they actually were, and swiftly undid the buckles. Standing to his feet, he turned his back to Sonic and clenched a fist. "I'll go."

"Huh?" Sonic wondered looking up, just in time to see Knuckles dash out of the pod and climb up the space colony's walls before the pod's doors shut off his line of vision. Once alone, he ceased his struggling farce and crossed his arms. A smug smirk on his lips, he chuckled proudly to himself. "Heh. He fell for it. Ah…such great acting, I should receive an Oscar."

" …A Chaos Emerald!" Rouge relayed into the ear-piece. " What do you need one of those for? And why are you telling me this?"

There was a small pause before Shadow continued. **_" ….I'm using your ear-piece's frequency…you're the only one who can hear me…"_**

Becoming annoyed at his beating around the bush, Rouge angrily placed a hand on her hip and stomped a five-inch pumped heel on the floor. "You're not answering my questions, Shadow! Why do you need an emerald and why do you have this frequency?"

"For an enigmatical spy, you ask a lot of questions. I recall you digging up information on me, so now I'm returning the favor."

"Why you…!"

"But Rouge, please, I need you to do this for me. This is a life or death situation, and I know you wouldn't want to be responsible for someone's death if it could be avoided."

Rouge had to admit that he had a point. She was good at hiding her emotions, but the guilt would be too heavy for even her to bear. Reluctantly, she agreed. "Fine, I'll do it. But what's in it for me…?"

"Where is she!" Knuckles frantically and angrily asked himself, while still climbing the walls of the ark. "How could she stay behind like this! Just what was she thinking! Doesn't she know she's putting herself in danger--Gyah!" He shouted as he missed his footing and slipped. Quickly he drove his fist into the wall and reclaimed his balance. With beads of sweat brimming his brow and his chest heaving from deep and raspy breaths, Knuckles stopped for a moment to collect his scattered thoughts. Why was Rouge doing something so endangering? It didn't make any sense to him.

"Why… Why are you doing this to me, Rouge…? …Don't you know you're making me worry…." Concluding that his onslaught of rhetorical questions would do nothing but delay him time, Knuckles forcefully put the rest of it behind him and continued to make his way up the wall.

After what seemed like hours, he finally reached the top. Panting heavily, he pulled himself up one arm and leg at a time and frantically scanned the area for Rouge.

Nothing.

Concerned and irritated, he rounded a corner. "Rouge!"

No answer.

"Dammit." He growled through gritted teeth. "Where is she!" Turning in another hallway, he picked up the distinct flicker of light from the far end of it.

Was it her?

Putting all else aside, Knuckles forced himself to pick up enough speed kick off the floor and glide to the end of the hallway as fast as he could. 'Hold on Rouge..' he whispered to himself, 'Just hold on…!'

"Are you sure about this?" Rouge exclaimed to Shadow after tuning on another light switch.

" Think of it this way….If…I'm lying...we both die. I'm not someone crazy enough to…take my...own life."

Rouge half smiled. "Somehow I seriously doubt that. I already can't believe I'm allowing you to talk me into this, but if your offer stands firm, then I'm ready to gamble. Tell me what I need to do."

" G…to th…middle of the room…"

"What?"

"Go to the middle of the room and turn to your left. Do you see a door?"

Rouge walked to the middle of the main computer room and turned left. Just as he said, there was a door there. It was in a rather odd place in her opinion, but nonetheless she went over to it. Scanning it over, she found it to be locked with a numeric keypad next to it. Casually, she punched in the numbers 62742 and stepped back to let the door open in front of her.

There was a gasp from the ear-piece, then a cough.

"Shadow…Shadow are you allright?"

"The password….how...did you…?"

Rouge smirked. "You ought to give me better credit than that, Shadow. Just about every password on this ship relates to the same person."

There was a pause as the dark hedgehog mourned the loss of the one dearest to him.

"…Maria…"

Feeling the deep sadness and remorse in his voice, Rouge took it upon herself to lighten things up a bit. "I'm sorry about your loss, Shadow, but, after what you've done, I'm sure she's happy and smiling down at you from above."

Appreciating her concern, Shadow made a sound of acknowledgement.**_"Thank you… Oh no…! …Ru…..hu…! You….d..n..have...mu…tim..!"_**

"What? Shadow I can't hear you…you're breaking up.."

"Hurry! There's no time! Activate the panel in fro..nt..of you…and g…t..out!"

Confused, Rouge didn't give much time to argue with him and pressed a few buttons on the panel. After doing so, a pod that looked to be framed with a chaos emerald's luster material dropped down in front of her. Not wasting any time, Rouge nervously held her breath and hopped into it, not knowing what to expect. The very moment she did, the space colony began to shake tremendously.

It had hit the atmosphere already!

'This is bad…' she mumbled in her mind. 'This is really bad…' Frantically, she searched the inside of the pod for an ejection switch.

"Rouge!"

Her already short breath got caught in her throat at the call of her name. 'Knuckles!' she exclaimed to herself. The exact moment she thought of him, was within the same second that he flew into the room and saw her. For a moment, their eyes met-his were frantic and racing, while hers were awed and welling with emotion.

Did Knuckles actually care for her this much? That even while the space colony practically tore itself apart, he left the safety of his escape pod to come back, looking for her? 'Oh..Knuckles…' she whispered breathlessly in her mind, as a silent tear fell from her eye.

But before any other them could make another movement, the space colony shook with an overwhelming force and knocked Rouge to the floor of the emerald pod---which resulted in her setting off the dispatching switch.

Unable to do anything to stop her, Knuckles watched in horror as Rouge's distraught and tearful eyes tore from his as she and the pod disappeared from the ark in an instant. The fearful scream of his name was the only thing she left behind.

Wow…such many ways this was written. I'm trying something new with this particular story. With that said, see you next time.

-Mel


	2. Escape

Disclaimer: No I don't own these characters.

Framing the Shadow: Chapter 2

Another piercing tremor tore through the ship, causing it to rattle ferociously as another section of the ark disappeared into the depths of the atmosphere. The aftershocks were powerful enough to roughly cause the ring of escape pods attached beneath the ship to nearly break apart. "Jeez!" Sonic shouted, being rocked by the shocks and tremors. It was at this very moment that he was grateful to Eggman's grandfather for inventing such a sturdy and insanely secure "safety seat". Looking up towards the small cubed window of the pod, Sonic frowned. The vibrations were getting worse. And on top of that, neither Knuckles or Rouge have come back yet.

Sonic paused as his brow furrowed in thought. The reason he had indirectly made Knuckles go back to the ark solo because Sonic wanted him to be the hero for a little while as he rescued his alluring damsel in distress from danger. But from the way things were looking now, Sonic had quickly regretted making that choice. "What was I thinking?" he uttered to himself.

Things were getting too dangerous for even for Knuckles to handle. Concerned for his comrade and for Rouge, Sonic skillfully undid his safety "restraints" in pure contrast to how he had comically struggled with them earlier, and stepped towards the pod's door. Upon contact, it automatically opened in front of him and he had to quickly grab onto either sides of the doorway to brace himself against the tremendous currents of air pressure beneath him. "Sheesh!" He shouted as he struggled against the intense force of pressure blasting upwards into his face. There was so much of it, he wondered how Knuckles handled it with such ease. 'Show-off…' Sonic thought to himself while trying to look for a stable place on the walls of the collapsing ark to jump onto. Looking a bit to the right, he could see the small but deep indentations made by Knuckles' smashing attempts to climb the wall. Bracing himself to jump, Sonic had just leaned back a little to build up enough strength to make the jump, when the ark shook with such a fatal vengeance, it sent the hedgehog tumbling backwards into the pod.

"Ow!" he grimaced as he rubbed his head. But another fierce tremor made his actions null and void as he got thrown over to the opposite side. Laying in an upside-down curled position with his back against the wall of the pod, Sonic disgustedly crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. Warily, he looked over at his seat and suddenly, all those insane looking belts made sense to have and looked very inviting to him. Carefully, he rolled over onto his side and proceeded to crawl over to his seat on his belly to avoid being knocked around again. Suddenly, the sharp sound of static was thrown around inside the pod. "Sonic!" called Amy's frantic voice through an intercom placed somewhere in the pod, "Sonic are you allright!"

"Amy…" Sonic uttered as he looked around for the intercom. Upon finding it, the minute he picked up the receiving end, Tails' voice rang through the device. "Sonic! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah!" he replied, still laying on the floor. "This ark isn't taking any prisoners with it from the way the atmosphere is tearing it apart! Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah!" Tails replied "I managed to cut into the system's old controls and -Amy!"

"Step aside Tails! Sonic! Sonic is everything allright? I thought we'd lose you from that last tremor!" Amy cried.

"Don't worry, Amy, I'm---" Just as he spoke, he remembered about Knuckles and Rouge and immediately cut the small talk. "Amy, put Tails back on!"

She gasped in shock. "But Sonic--!"

"Now, Amy! There's no time!" Sonic commanded, trying not to sound too demanding.

A few seconds later, Tails was back on the line. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

"Tails, Knuckles and Rouge are still in the ark."

"What?"

"Listen, if you can I want you to find a way to connect the pods' intercom system with the ark's internal system!"

There was a pause. "I could do it, but, I'd need a direct line from the ark itself to connect it to the system solely used for the pods!"

Lowly, Sonic uttered a word of disgust. It looked like he had to go back out into that murderous air pressure after all. He was hoping that Tails could have used the intercom system to contact the ark to alert Knuckles and Rouge to come to the escape pods on their own. So much for that idea.

Again, he spoke into the receiver. "Tails, can you hear me?"

"Yep."

"Allright. …I'll go out and get you a line. You stay ready near the door…but don't get too close, understand?"

"Got it!"

"Allright, I'm going. …..And uh….take care of Amy…okay?"

With those words said, Sonic placed the receiver down and carefully got back to his feet. Stepping over to the door yet again, Sonic took in a deep breath and inched closer to it. The second it opened, Sonic leapt out of the pod and blindly grabbed a hold of one of the grooved imprints left by Knuckles' fists. Relieved, he exhaled and quickly looked around for a loose line from the deteriorating space colony. By pure luck, he found one dangling not too far from him. Carefully placing himself on the wall to reach for it, he missed a few times before finally grabbing hold of it. Silently cursing the oppressing power of the air pressure, Sonic pulled the wire from the ark in a way similar to how one would lift up the roots of a tree from out the ground. He then moved himself until he was in front of Tails' pod.

"I'm really worried about him out there." Amy said, looking down at her shoes. Tails, who sat directly across from her in their pod, directed reassuring words to her, but kept most of his attention on the small window on the top of the pod's door. "Don't worry so much, Amy. I'm sure Sonic will make it."

Looking up at him with uncertain eyes, Amy frowned a little and crossed her arms, amongst all the safety belts. "He'd better…for his sake."

Tails grinned at her. "Come on. Sonic's the type of guy who loves this kind of adrenaline rush! Something small like this won't even phase him---hey! I think I see him!"

"What? You do?" Amy questioned to Tails, who had already unbuckled his safety belts and carefully went over to the door beside her. Not getting too close, he stood on his tippy toes to get a better look out the window, and just as he said, Sonic was right across from the door waving the wire in his hands. "I'm going to open the door, Amy. Hold onto my tails and don't let go!"

"Got it!" Amy said, firmly taking hold of his tails. Stepping directly in front of the door when it opened, Tails struggled to steady himself as the currents of the wind outside nearly blew him backwards, but he quickly grasped the doorway of the pod and waved to Sonic. Seeing that his target range was clear, Sonic tossed the wire to Tails, and the young fox leaned out, barely catching it. Amy, who felt Tails nearly losing his balance, pulled with all her might on his tails and forced him back into the pod.

"Owww!" he cried "You didn't have to pull them so hard!"

"Well, it was either that or your life." Her eyes narrowed and she haughtily crossed her arms. "One of these days you'll be grateful when a beautiful young woman pulls on you a little hard."

Tails gave her a puzzled expression. "What?"

"Nothing!" Amy shot back. "Anyway, can you get that thing hooked up?"

"I'll try."

"Good…" Amy said, her mind drifting. " I sure hope Sonic will be allright."

Irritated, annoyed and nearly wiped out, Sonic finally reached the top of the space colony's wall. Because of the immense currents of air ascending between the gaps where the ark and bay for the escape pods were connected, the exhausted hedgehog was unable to use his speedy feet to run up the wall. Instead had to hover and ride the current using his Figure 8 move, then climb the rest of the way using the holes Knuckles made as footholds. Panting, he stood to his feet and looked around. The colony looked like it had been hit its hardest from the last two tremors. Sonic shook his head. It was an utterly disastrous and sad sight to see. But thanks to his struggles with that accursed air current, Sonic had begun to sympathize with the ship as he felt almost the same way it looked.

Even though his whole body practically ached, he pushed his pain aside and proceeded to carefully zip across gaps and holes in the ark while making his way down each and every battered hallway in search of his missing teammates.

Emotionally unable to leave the same place he was when Rouge disappeared from his very sights, Knuckles became overwhelmed from his inability to help her and slowly sulked to his knees. "...No..." Knuckles uttered, his voice thin and shaken. "No….NO THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" he roared, clenching his fist with a murderous force and ramming it through the floor of the ark. Unable to hold back his anger and confusion, the enraged echidna continued to drive his fierce fists through whatever was within his range---his rage matching the pulse of each racing thought. Why would Rouge just leave so suddenly and put herself in vital danger? Why hadn't she told him anything?

Dejected, his tangled mind began to torture him with visions of his passionate crush---her smile, the alluringly smug way she looked at him, the lush and sensual tones of her erotic voice…

All of it gone in a matter of seconds.

His heart ached at the thought of never seeing her again or never getting the chance to tell her, or show her, how he felt…

"AHH!…TROUBLEMAKER!" he vociferated, leaping to his feet and blindly forcing his fist into the glass that surrounded the pod Rouge had left in-shattering it completely.

Trembling from his explosion of anger, his breath was heavy, as his eyes, aimless and wild, fleeted around the room at the damage he had done. Muttering a curse under his breath, he dropped his destructive fists down to his sides and hung his head, chest heaving.

"….Rouge…"

Remorsefully, turning to leave, he nearly lost his balance from the space colony being torn apart even more.

"Knuckles! Knuckles can you hear me?"

Intensely, he looked around. "Tails…?"

"I'm calling you from the colony's escape pods!", the young fox's voice called through the intercom, "The colony's being ripped apart! We're entering the atmosphere!"

"…You don't say…" Knuckles grumbled under his breath as he finally sought the deteriorating ship with his own eyes. He had been swimming in his thoughts the whole time that he was oblivious as to what was going on around him. "$#!!" he uttered, running out of the room "I have to get out of here…!"

"There you are!"

Spinning around, Knuckles had met face to face with Sonic. With a smug expression, he shook his head and for a moment, set his rage aside. No matter what was going on, Sonic always had to show up at the last minute and have the last bit. 'Show off.' He thought and tossed a mocking look at the hedgehog. "What are you doing here… besides playing the hero until the final curtain falls?"

With a playful scoff, Sonic crossed his arms. "Just saving the support actor's butt, as usual. And speaking of which, where's the leading lady?"

"…She…" Knuckles began, rapidly feeling his anger starting to rise. Not wanting another delirious outburst like before, he clenched his fists tightly and looked away from Sonic. "…She's…not here…"

"What!"

At that moment, the ark gave a loud and torturing screech as large chunks of it were torn apart barely inches away from them---and were steadily traveling to the only pathway that lead to the safety pods beneath the ark.

"$#! Sonic---!"

"We can talk later! Let's get out of here!" Sonic shouted, quickly grabbing Knuckles by the wrist and speeding out of harms way in an instant.

It seemed almost as soon as Sonic passed a section of the deteriorating ark, the ship began collapsing upon itself. There was no turning back.

Finally reaching the pods, Sonic rushed inside, tossed Knuckles in and locked the door.

"Whew! Finally we made it!" Sonic panted, leaning against the door on his hands and looked to Knuckles over his shoulder. " That was close." He looked again " ...Huh?"

Wordlessly, and paying no attention to the hedgehog in front of him, Knuckles grimly hung his head and began to tremble. Awed and speechless, Sonic started to take a step towards him, until he saw the vigorous clenching and unclenching of the fiery echidna's fists. From seeing that, he stopped dead in his tracks, and softly called to him. "…Knuckles…?"

There was a pause before he finally spoke.

"dmmt…shs…gne" Knuckles mumbled low and incoherently. "wy…s..it…so…pnful…"

"What..?" Sonic rhetorically asked, unaware of himself speaking.

"Getting…moody over this…" Knuckles continued bitterly, slowly lifting his voice as well as his eyes, but didn't give much attention to the concerned and confused hedgehog before him "It just hurts so much…"

"Knuckles…"

Roughly, Knuckles shook his head. He knew Rouge wouldn't do anything too daring for no reason…..unless there was something else going on that he didn't know about…

Even though he and Rouge weren't an item--yet-- Knuckles still felt angered when she kept things from him. But now, more than ever, did Knuckles realize that Rouge was upto something behind his back and he knew that she wasn't working alone.

"Dammit Rouge!" , he spat, "Why do you always do this to me!"

"Um Knuckles…" Sonic cautioned, gesturing to him to keep his temper down.

"DAMMIT!" he roared, blindly crushing his fist into the titanium of the pod's wall, causing it to shake.

Sonic jumped at the thundering vibration. "Jeez! Knuckles, calm down!"

Angrily, Knuckles turned to Sonic with an annoyed gesture. "And how do you expect me to do that!"

Sonic scoffed. "Idiot! You…." He trailed off, suddenly looking up.

Annoyed, Knuckles made a gruff sound and glanced up, yet saw nothing. "What's wrong with you?"

"Quiet…" Sonic whispered. Reluctantly doing what was requested, Knuckles paused and listened. As the two of them stood unnaturally still, the faint sound of a mechanical screech was heard. Knuckles shrugged. At first he thought it was just the ark falling apart----that is until the pod started to tilt at an acute angle.

"What the…" he wondered, looking to Sonic, who had slid over to his side of the pod with no effort at all. Eyes narrowed, and arms crossed he glared at Knuckles.

"I hope you're happy…"

Knuckles blinked. "What!"

At that very moment, there was another machine bending sound as the rusted bay that was holding the pods broke apart---sending the ring of pods free-falling from the ark and plummeting to the planet below.

--Man, was this a lengthy chapter or what! There was so much going on…and it was angsty too. Oh well.

Another chapter done. Onto the Rouge and the Shadow! Yeah, what happened to her anyway….?

Later

-Mel


	3. Gift and Promise

Framing the Shadow Chapter 3

Silently drifting through the depths of space, the emerald-alloyed capsule, that contained the femme Rouge the Bat, endlessly spun at a weightless pace; resembling that of a lucid droplet of dew slipping down the thread of a dark and ongoing cosmic web.

The view from inside of the emerald's luster was a beautiful sight of the sun spreading a layer of its vastness over one side of the planet. It was truly a gorgeous and rare sight to see.

And the one woman who had this wonderful creation unravel before her, was too painfully tangled in her emotions to accept the beauty for what it was. All alone in the middle of space, she knelt in the center of the emerald pod with glistening tears in her eyes. Feelings of remorse, anger and danger filtered her heart as she hung her head and shook it-wondering if the risk she took was actually worth putting lives on the line for.

In a broken whisper, the name of the one who she felt the most guilt towards, tumbled from betwixt her quivering lips. " Knuckles..."

She knew that she had hurt him, but deep down, the one she was really hurting was….

"…Rouge! Rouge, can you hear me?"

"…" Of course she could, but the question was, did she want to?

**_"Are you allright?"_** Shadow continued, with a deep concern in his subdued voice**_"…Rouge… answer me…"_**

Rouge shuddered. There was so much comfort in his voice, she didn't know whether to shut him out…or let him in. He sounded so sincere…

She wasn't angry at Shadow. She trusted him, and if nothing else, she respected him for his nobility and intelligence. She was just unsure of herself.

Shadow had promised that a dream of hers would be fulfilled, in return for her helping him. Promising someone their dream seemed really farfetched, and she had no idea of where this "promise" would lead her, but as long as valuable jewels were involved, she didn't care how dangerous it was. The more challenging it was, the better, and in the depths of her heart, she knew she was in good hands with him-- even if she never saw Knuckles, nor the others again, life would still go on…

She'd miss the Master Emerald, though. And as for that hot-blooded echidna---well…

Any feelings she had towards him, she had to swallow and keep them secretly to herself.

"Rouge!"

"Yeah…" she replied in a shaky, but assertive voice, "I'm here."

"Good. I'm glad you're allright."

Feeling most of her tension melt away from the sound of sincerity in his voice, a very light smile curved her crimson lips, but Rouge said nothing in reply. Instead, she leaned her back against the slowly spinning pod and allowed her eyes to aimlessly wander through the vast pools of stars and dark matter around her. Then finally, to break the silence, as well as ease the butterflies in her stomach, she spoke. "So…what's next on your agenda Shadow? How will you get us out of this one?"

"I won't. You'll be the one to get yourself out of this one."

Shocked, Rouge gasped as her tension came right back. "WHAT?" she shrieked "You're kidding! You bring me all the way out here and then expect me to FEND for MYSELF!"

There was a slight pause, probably Shadow recoiling from the sudden shrill tone of her voice.

"If that was your attempt at telling a joke, it's not very good!"

"Listen! You put most, if not all, of your trust in my hands the moment you willingly left the ark!"

She sucked her teeth. "So!"

"…And now you're starting to have doubts?"

Opening her mouth to protest, Rouge realized that Shadow did have a point, and quickly shut it. With a defeated sigh, she leaned back against the glass with crossed arms and rolled her eyes. "Point made. So just what do you propose I do?"

There was a small chuckle from his end of the frequency. Rouge could tell that Shadow was quite amused.

"I'm surprised a jewel thief like you hasn't realized what you are encased in, yet."

"What are you babbling about?" she muttered, with a hint of annoyance to her voice. Lazily, she looked at the capsule's frame and tapped a finger where the luster of the alloy was most radiant. "It's just a mineral alloy. …Actually, it looks kind of like a…" she trailed off when it finally hit her. "…A chaos emerald?"

"Exactly. I'm going to tell you what to do, so listen carefully..."

With a faint smile, Rouge twitched her ears from side to side. "I'm all ears."

There was a small cough on the other end before Shadow spoke his words. **_"Stand….stand directly in the middle of the capsule with both hands pressing against the sides"_**

Rising to her feet, Rouge did as Shadow said and stabled herself against the weightless spinning. She didn't understand how this was going to help save her life, but she somehow felt confident about it. She was willing to do whatever it took to be rid of that pod, anyway-emerald alloy or not, she hated to be confined in such tight spaces. "Okay. What next?"

"…Command space and time to bend to you. Picture yourself at a nearby location and say Chaos Control!"

'Of course!' Rouge thought 'Why hadn't I thought of that?' She knew that the technique was powerful, she had seen him use it all the time. Only, Chaos Control was also something that Shadow was constructed for specifically, but, if Sonic was able to use its powers, maybe she could do the same.

"That's a great idea Shadow, but…are you sure that I can use it?"

There was a pause from Shadow, indicating that he was thinking over the situation. With directly choiced words, he replied: **_"Rouge, earlier I extended a desperate hand to you and you firmly took hold of it. And because of that, I'm now able to offer my hand to you. I honestly had faith in you before, but now, it's your turn…to have faith in me and in yourself."_**

"Shadow..." Rouge murmured, feeling an odd twinge in her heart and a warm rush to her cheeks. She knew the guy actually had a heart under his shell of confusion and despair, but, for him to be so enchantingly alluring…

Was it just her, or could Shadow have…changed somehow? With a shrug, Rouge pushed the thought to the back of her mind and moved denial in its place.

'He probably just hit his head on a stray moonrock…or something.'

With that settled, Rouge began to prepare herself for transport, when a falling object caught her attention from out the corner of her eye. Almost instantly, she recognized it to be the deteriorating ark and her breath got caught in her throat. 'Knuckles!'

Just then, the pod rocked and jostled her around. The capsule had already entered deep into the atmosphere and would break apart with her in it if she didn't do something.

"Rouge! Rouge are you still there?"

"The ark…the ark is destroyed!" she cried, completely not caring about herself for a good three seconds.

"What..? Rouge I can't hear you! Yo…brea….ing up!"

"Shadow!" she exclaimed frantically. Then quickly, she set all aside, pressed her hands against the glass and uttered: "…Chaos Control…!"

She felt a surge of energy course through her torso, but nothing else happened.

'Dammit' she cursed inwardly. After seeing the ark dissipating before her very eyes, her mind became disrupted. All she could think about was Knuckles and if he had made it out or not.

The capsule's shaking had become worse. Struggling to maintain in control, she pressed her hands firmly against the glass and tried again. "…Chaos Control!"

Again, she felt a pulse of energy flow through her, but still nothing else happened. Her mind a tangled mass of thoughts, Rouge frantically glanced down at the nearing planet below and without knowing, shouted at the top of her lungs. "CHAOS…CONTROL!"

And in a flash of green and white light, she disappeared from the pod the moment it entered the core atmosphere of the planet and imploded from the compressed pressure.

And then, all she saw was darkness.

"Ru…ge! W…t hap…n…d? ….Are y…u allright! Rouge! Rouge---!"

Down in a forest on a remote island in the middle of nowhere, smoldering clots of smoke rose high into the tropic air. Randomly implanted inside the moist ground of the forest, were the scattered and overheated pieces of the escape pods that were "involuntarily forced" from the bottom of the space colony. Moments after its harsh landing, the sound of one of the pods being pounded was sent throughout the forest. Seconds later, a bent door flew off of one and a disgruntled Knuckles fell out of the pod with a mildly traumatized Sonic not too far behind. Both laying flat on their backs with their arms spread, they gazed aimlessly into the hazy orange sky above them.

"Did…we…make...it...?" Sonic raspily asked, his chest heaving with each heavy breath he took. "Are we…still alive…?"

Wordlessly, Knuckles slowly turned to Sonic and stared at him for a moment before returning his glazed eyes to the garish sky. He then narrowed them. "We're alive…." he groggily answered, his voice deep and broken "…But at what cost…?"

There was a small pause of wordless silence between them as they both tried to catch their breath.

Knuckles' mind soon became flooded with Rouge as the hazy horizon above consumed his vacant eyes.

Seconds later, Sonic was the first to shakily push himself up from the soggy ground to a sitting position. "….Tails….Amy…" he uttered, while trying to push himself up even more "…and Eggman…"

Those three were still in the pods---most likely trapped. He had to get them out…but he couldn't do it alone. "Knuckles..." he spoke softly, turning to face his friend to ask him to bust open the pod doors, but… the emotionally and physically tortured echidna had already succumbed into a deep sleep. His brow was furrowed and his lips were in a frown. His mitts were curled tautly into a ball. Sonic could tell his friend had felt the cold and bitter pain of failure and defeat.

For all the trauma that had rattled his comrade, the remorseful hedgehog began to feel sorry for him. First, Knuckles had somehow lost Rouge onboard the ARK, was unable to control his emotions, and was now in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Giving Knuckles one last sympathetic glance, Sonic forced himself up and headed to the remaining pods without him.

Rouge soon found herself all alone in a dark room. The only slither of light that emitted was from the magical shimmer of a ruby chaos emerald in front of her. Sure, the place looked eerily suspicious, but, with a jewel so close, she didn't care about the odds or even how she got there. Instinctively, she glanced around to make sure no one was looking and casually sauntered upto the crimson jewel. The very moment she slipped her eager fingers around it, a heavy object in the form of a small cube dropped down on her. Startled, she fell to her backside and dropping the emerald. She then realized that she was enclosed in a tight and narrow cage. It wasn't so much the cage that got her on edge, but the lack of space was the very entity that could rob her freedom from right under her nose.

She hated enclosed tight spaces…

"Rouge! ROUGE! Answer me if you're still there! Rouge!"

Shadow continuously called to Rouge, who lay unconscious in a deep sleep in a remote location. Yet, despite her comatose state, she still heard his frantic voice, and unknowingly responded to it.

"…get me out of here…"she whispered.

"Rouge!…"

"…help me…" she mumbled. There was a gasp from Shadow, as he began to call out to her again, until he realized that she wasn't aware of her words. It occurred to him that she must have fallen unconscious somewhere after the warp.

After much struggling, Rouge had given up on trying to get out of the cage and sat in a slouch. She had no idea on how to get out of the situation. The last time she was locked inside someplace was when she was pilfering emeralds for Eggman and got trapped inside a large and guarded room. She felt as helpless now as she did then. Even with all her skills, she couldn't escape on her own, and had to be rescued by someone.

Shadow…

So, where was he now? Blankly, she looked over to the emerald she clumsily pilfered, that lay outside the cage. Thinking to herself, she could remember a voice telling her that she had to have faith in herself. Reaching for the jewel, she managed to take hold of it. Giving it a placid look, she seemed to have seen something in it as the image of someone came to her thoughts and the words he spoke uttered from her lips. "Chaos Control!"

It came to her so clearly, she could have sworn she heard him right there with her…

"…mm…" Rouge finally began to regain her consciousness. A cool breeze fluttered through her hair and aided her in coming to her senses. Countless and mindless thoughts churned rapidly in her head as she tried to move her limbs and get up. With her eyes still closed, she could feel her body shivering from the cold thrill she barely escaped from earlier.

Where was she…?

**_"Rouge….."_** Shadow called, his voice now heavy with concern.

Groggily, from the sound of his voice, she responded to him with a dispirited groan.

"Rouge!"

"…What…" she murmured, placing a hand to her head and slowly shaking it.

Shadow chuckled lightly at her reply, but he was glad that she was safe and sound. **_" Do you know where you are?"_**

After a few moments, Rouge managed to open her eyes. With a gasp, she slowly rose to her feet.

Using Chaos Control from space had sent her to the very top of the most visible landmark on the planet---the Great Wall of China!

Her breath nearly got caught in her throat as she almost couldn't believe what her eyes beheld. The view from the wall was vast and ongoing, but the element that was the most appealing to her was the large mandarin sun, setting in the west. Entranced by sight, she spread out her arms and gladly allowed the sun to caress her skin with the gentle stokes of its warmth. Taking in a deep breath, she eagerly unraveled her wings to allow the soft embraces of the returning wind to catch in their fullness.

This was when she truly felt alive. This was her dream. She had always wanted to travel the world, not only for jewels, but for the sake of freedom--her freedom.

This was truly a dream come true but…how would Shadow, of all people, know of what she loved most of all?

His promise to her was real.

There had to be a catch, but in her complete moment of solace, she'd worry about the full details later.

"…Rouge?"

Slowly, not wanting to miss a second of the Eastern wind's gentle caresses, Rouge touched the earpeice. Her voice was soft, yet uncertain. "…Why are you doing this, Shadow…..?"

"Doing what?"

"If Chaos Control…had all this power…why are you sharing it with me? If your real reason for letting me use it was to help find you, then why are you helping me to achieve my dream goal in the process?" Her eyes, glistening with the same gleam of the sun, contently wandered the horizon as she spoke. A chaste smile formed on her lips. "To travel the world to collect its jewels and see its greatest entities; to feel the wind in my hair, my wings and to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin---this is what I love. Adventure and freedom are my most cherished possessions that not even all the jewels in the world could take their place. They do manage to take a close second, though. But, this is something I've procrastinated over many times, and never actually took the time to put into action…And for that, I thank you, Shadow." After a pause, she mentally added, 'From the bottom of my heart.'

There was a pause by Shadow as he carefully took her words in. He was truly touched. Aside from all the fancy and dashing phrases that came to his mind, all he could reply with was:

"Well you're….you're welcome, Rouge."

Rouge slightly pulled herself away from her sunset, recognizing the hint of a certain emotion in Shadow's voice. "Hm?"

" You're…the first person to ever thank me."

Surprised, Rouge raised an eyebrow. "I am? You mean...Maria…never thanked you?" she asked, being sure to say Maria's name as gently as possible.

Taking her discreetness to heart, Shadow said nothing for a while, then replied in a distant tone: **_"I said you were the first."_**

"Ohh…" she trailed off, "…Sorry…"

"Don't be."

Wordless, Rouge returned her attention back to the scenic sunset. She felt a little disturbed that she may have bruised a sensitive spot, but tried to take her mind off it. Placing a hand on her hip, she walked around a bit, lifting up her heels to admire the heart-shaped embellishments on them. "So…" she began, trying to change the subject, "Just what got you to make and keep your promise?"

Shadow, again, said nothing for a while, but this time his silence seemed less painful than the last.

"… I knew it was a way to get your attention. I needed to contact someone who had knowledge of my capabilities."

"I see." she replied, leisurely fanning her wings as she walked "But you know, I'm not the only one who knew, and wasn't the only one with a device for commuting frequencies. You could have contacted Dr. Egg-"

"Don't go there."

She half-smiled. "Well, you could have."

"You seemed more interested in the chaos emeralds than he did."

"Yeah well..." she stopped herself. She knew that Shadow was using a cover-up on the details, but, whenever he included her and jewels in the same sentence, he still had a point! "Hmm…can't argue with that. But since you need a jewel, and I'm the perfect candidate for finding and pilfering them, I'll get you what you want. "

"And you want freedom with adventure. Getting the Chaos Emeralds themselves will ensure that. And after you get them, you're free to transport to anyplace you desire…as long as you control it."

Rouge chuckled to herself and stood on the edge of the wall with her wings fully spread. She flapped them lightly as the wind began to fill them.

"…You drive a hard bargain, Shadow, but it's a deal. Besides, the benefits are astounding and in my favor!"

**_"Hmph. I thought you might like that."_** Shadow replied, mildly amused.

"Maybe."

"Just don't take too long."

"Hmph! So where do you want me to get this emerald?"

He paused. **_"What are you wearing…?"_**

Rouge nearly lost her balance on the wall.

"Wh...WHAT! Just what kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Calm down! I didn't mean it like that!"

She smirked mischievously. "Why Shadow, I never knew you were so straightforward! So THAT'S what you've been thinking while talking to me, isn't it!"

"No-"

"You creep!" she playfully chirped.

"Rouge! Be serious!"

She grinned. "I'm fine. You're the one getting all bent out of shape. Oh…that could be a pun, couldn't it?"

Trying to be serious, Shadow couldn't help but let a chuckle escape him. Hoping she didn't hear it, he cleared his throat.

"…Can we get back to the mission, if you don't mind?"

"You were the one asking confidential questions." Rouge replied, thoughtfully swaying her tail. "You're blushing aren't you?"

"Are you done?"

Rouge grinned. "Maybe…"

"Anyway, what I was trying to say before I was accused from an assumption, you may want to change first before getting the emerald."

"That's all you had to say…"

"If you're still wearing that white and pink outfit, you'll have to get something darker."

"Oh, I see. You must want me to sneak in somewhere and steal the emerald."

"Could you do that?"

"Child's play."

"Hmph. Just don't get locked in like you did before. I can't warp in to save you, nor the emerald this time. Everything rides on whether you make it or if you don't."

About to open her mouth to give a smooth reply, Rouge was briefly reminded of her dream. Being trapped in that cage felt almost exactly the same as being trapped in that locked room with the emeralds from a while back. She felt a little bothered by Shadow bringing it up, but she knew he was right. She had to be cautious.

She just hoped that dream wasn't like a premonition of some sort.

"I got it." She answered, casually, flapping her wings. "I'll swing past my place to change, then go after the emerald."

"Good. And Rouge?"

"What?" she asked, already leaping off the wall and adjusting her balance in the air.

"Be careful."

She smiled. No matter how things managed to get, Shadow always seemed to care in the end. For so much concern to come from him, it did seem a little strange, but, Rouge hoped that strangeness would be there to stay… at least for a little while longer.

'He definitely must have hit his head, but…'

"…Thanks…" she uttered, giving her wings a large flap and soaring off into the distance.

--…It was a bit of a challenge getting Rouge and Shadow in tune to their game counterparts. For Rouge, in my opinion, her Sonic X personality seemed to be too old, so I had to go by her SA2 personality. Same with Shadow…

Anyway…I had fun with this one You see how long it is…

And YES, I support Knuckles/Rouge too. Just as I do with Shadow and Rouge…or Shadow and Amy. Ha, well, she's too young. But it's fun. Mixing the couples gives good variety, especially if they have high possibilities of being together anyway. You don't have to agree with me, but that's what I think.

It all boils down to how the characters react to one another.

Welp, see you next chapter

-Mel


	4. Blind Rage

Framing the Shadow: Chapter 4

'At the time, I knew jewels weren't the only thing on her mind. After looking in those lucid eyes of hers, I knew there was something else she wanted to hunt for. And whatever that particular thing was, it didn't include me, nor the Master Emerald.'

Washed away in a monsoon of his own dreams, Knuckles continued to plague his mind with thoughts and theories of his failure to stop Rouge before she left him. Even in the midst and depths of his sub-consciousness, he could still feel the distinct swelling of pain in his heart.

'If only she had at least given me a hint to where she was going…I could have stopped her…! I know she was being led by someone…'

As anger began to course through him, his mind drifted back to the Space Colony when he had franticly flown into the room Rouge was in and saw her inside of the emerald -alloy capsule. The look she gave him was still fresh and clear in his mind.

Her lush turquoise eyes were full with a mixture of confusion and awe that quickly glossed over with a thin film of tears.

'…What was she thinking…? Why were there tears in her eyes! …Were they because of me…?'

Recalling the moment when the turbulence from the ARK forced her backwards into the pod sent a cold stab to his very core.

She was immediately torn from his sight. He couldn't do anything in time to stop it. He hated the feeling of defeat, especially when it dealt with him protecting something precious.

'…Why hadn't she told me anything?'

His heart wrenched remembering the sound of her voice as she franticly called his name after being forced into space.

Knuckles murmured in his sleep and shook his head from side to side. He hated to hear such a fearful sound coming from her. In it's place, he briefly imagined her voice erotically cooing his name and pictured her stroking his dreadlocks whilst they passionately made love.

Even if he was getting ahead of himself, creating that diversion got him to calm down a little, but not by much. He still regretted that he couldn't do anything to help her.

'…I failed her...'

In the far distance from the boundaries of his dream, he heard a laugh. Then, from out of the ebony surroundings of his sub-consciousness, emerged the bat-girl he had been so infatuated with. With a coy smile on her face, she turned her back to him. Reaching in her pocket, she pulled out a blue chaos emerald and held it close to her face. 'This or me?' she claimed with a deep edge to her voice. And with that, she brought the emerald to her crimson lips and kissed it as if it were a piece of ripened fruit. With a playful scoff, she tossed it onto the air and the moment she caught it, she disappeared.

Knuckles could only hear the sound of her taunting laughter. Within seconds, she reappeared with a smug smile on her face. Still tossing the emerald, she licked her lips and said in a low and sensuous tone: '…I know what you want…'

With that, she brought the emerald to her chest and suggestively and seductively rolled it down the length of her voluptuous curves, bending in a rather alluring way, then paused with it positioned beneath her tail. '…But your annoying moping around won't solve anything. So wake up!' she exclaimed, throwing the emerald at him.

"Oh! His eyes moved! I think he's finally going to wake up!"

"Yeah, but make sure you don't get too close, Amy! You don't want to take his share of oxygen…"

'Who…' Knuckles wondered, abruptly coming out of his sleep. He was so engrossed in his dream, he hardly recognized the high pitched voices next to him. Slowly, he opened one eye, then the other. He could make out two blurry figures to his side-one orange, the other pink.

"Tails…and Amy..." he mumbled in a muffled tone while he instinctively tried to sit up.

"Oh no you don't!" Amy exclaimed, lightly pushing him back down, "You shouldn't try to move so much after the crash!"

Knuckles growled and brushed her hand away. "Don't talk to me like that! A warrior like me has been through much worse than this…" Trying to get up again, he grimaced and clutched his back.

"See! I told you!" Amy claimed, waving a finger at him.

"Amy, cut it out." Tails lightly scolded, "He just woke up, give Knuckles some space, already."

Knuckles said nothing in reply, but simply looked at Amy with a stern expression, silently agreeing with Tails.

Feeling her cheeks grow hot from embarrassment, Amy turned away from them with crossed arms. "Fine, then that means you're coming with me!"

Tails blinked. "Wha?"

"Come on, Tails!" Amy stated, already grabbing Tails by the arm and leading him away from Knuckles. "If I have to give him space, then that includes you too! Being next to Sonic is more exciting anyway!"

"Ah--! Amy! You're hurting my arm..!"

"Then walk faster!"

With a cold frown, and emotionless stare, Knuckles watched them leave. "Hmph…what a headache." He mumbled, slowly sitting up. Through gritted teeth, Knuckles growled while taking the sudden pain until he was on one knee. Breathing heavily, he forced himself to check his surroundings. He was in an uncharted forest, and right in the middle of all the escape pods he and the others took to escape from the ARK with. Narrowing his eyes, he remembered how he had punched the wall of the pod he and Sonic were in and forced it to plummet to Earth. He growled. He knew Sonic would rub that in his face and never make him forget it.

"So, Knuckles, how do you like your handiwork?"

…And speak of the devil…

"Sonic…You couldn't just resist rubbing it in, could you?" Knuckles grumbled, turning to face the smug hedgehog. Rubbing his nose, Sonic shrugged and looked at him with one eye. "Ah...come on, always so serious. Lighten up, will ya?"

"Lighten up!" Knuckles exclaimed, forgetting about his pain and rising to meet Sonic's eyes. "And just how do you expect me to do that while in the middle of nowhere!"

"Sheesh, just calm down, Knuckles. I see you're back to normal." Sonic said plainly, then a serious expression took over his playful features. "…You ok?"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Am I--. Am I okay?" He looked down for a moment, then lifted his attention elsewhere, away from Sonic. "I'm fine." he replied dryly.

Sonic narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Somehow I don't believe you…"

"Believe what you want, Sonic, I don't care." Knuckles snapped back, turning his back to Sonic. "I'm out…"

Before he could take a step, Sonic reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Hold on Knuckles…" he started, his voice lower than usual and straight-toned.

"What is it now?" Knuckles uttered without knowing and looked back at Sonic. Meeting his burning amethyst eyes with Sonic's warm and placid viridian ones, Knuckles winced at the amount of seriousness and sincerity he was getting from the hedgehog all of a sudden. He never thought Sonic could get that serious…

After a tense passing second, Sonic removed his hand and got in front of Knuckles. "Listen…" he began in a low tone, "I know what you're really feeling…"

Knuckles half smiled, but it looked more like a frown. "…You know, huh?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah…" He leaned in closer as if what he had to say was extremely personal, and to one of them, it was. "You miss her, don't you?"

"Her?"

"Rouge…"

Knuckles frowned and turned his attention abruptly away from Sonic. "..."

Unaware of his actions, Sonic took a step closer and touched his shoulder again. "Hey man, it's allright, I understand…"

"You don't understand…You know nothing…"

Hearing such a deep tone come from Knuckles, Sonic winced and took his hand away. "Knuckles…" He didn't expect things to turn out so negatively. Instead of continuing with his rare seriousness, Sonic tried to cheer Knuckles up a little.

"Hey…come on Knuckles. I'm sure she made it out allright. That Rouge is one tough lady."

"…." Knuckles said nothing in reply, but from hearing Sonic talk so casually about Rouge got that muscle in his jaw to tense.

Yet, Sonic obliviously continued on. "So stop blaming yourself already, allright? It's not like your moping around will make her come back, or make you feel better…"

Knuckles froze at Sonic's words. They were similar to the ones Rouge spoke to him in his dream.

'Your annoying moping around won't solve anything!'

His eyebrow twitched.

Sonic was seriously beginning to test his temper.

"Besides, she's probably looking for you already! So…just keep your cool and move on. I'm sure she'll turn up someplace."

Feeling his burning anger course through him like a cascading lake of molten lava, Knuckles clenched his fists. "…That's…enough… Sonic…" he growled lowly, barely recognizing his own voice.

Sonic was surprised himself. "Wha? But Knuckles, I'm just trying to cheer you---"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" Knuckles thundered, swiftly turning on his heels and sending a right hook squarely into Sonic's face that sent him flying into the depths of the forest. Unable to control his anger, Knuckles relentlessly chased after Sonic's flailing form and charged fiercely through the forest. Blinded by rage, Knuckles continued his insane pace until he spotted Sonic being roughly ten feet away from him. He had been ricocheted into a secluded part of the forest that was different from the rest of it. There was a space in the treetops where beams of sunlight pooled the ground below it and illuminated a small spring of some sort. And in that spring, was Sonic.

Struggling to jump out in fear he would drown, even in a one-foot deep spring, Sonic managed to fall out of it and wipe his mouth from the impact of Knuckles' punch.

Keeping his racing eyes on his target, as Knuckles neared closer to Sonic he thrust his fists forward and toppled over two trees in the process. Quickly snatching up one, he made a vain and crazy attempt to swing it at Sonic. But this time, Sonic was able to dodge it and jump over Knuckles' head. "Are you crazy?" he shouted to the enraged echidna.

With a growl, Knuckles swung the tree again. "YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT, DO YOU!"

"What! Get a grip, Knuckles!" Sonic called, landing on the tree and running down it at supersonic speed to kick Knuckles in the forehead with the heel of his shoe.

"GYAH!" Knuckles roared, his balance unstable. The moment he regained it, Sonic charged for him from behind, spinning into a ball and landing a blow right into Knuckles' back.

With a cry of sheer pain, Knuckles dropped the tree and fell face first into it and the dirt.

Firmly, he clutched his back and squirmed in pain. "Ahhhh!" he yelled between pants "What…what did you do to me!"

Catching his own breath, Sonic rested on one knee while watching Knuckles writhe in obvious pain. Knuckles had been hit with his blows before, but they never effected him this badly. "…What happened…" Sonic uttered, already trying to get up. "Knuckles!"

Struggling wildly to block out the pain, Knuckles was oblivious to anything else. Trying to move he managed to drive a fist halfway into the dirt and concentrated.

"Knuckles are you…" Sonic paused in his tracks the moment he saw a green aura surround him. "What is that?"

After gathering enough energy from the planet, Knuckles smirked. His last minute healing technique that he had learned when still a pup, actually worked. Being a Guardian really had its whimsical advantages.

Standing to his feet, Knuckles threw an icy glare to Sonic. "That was a sensitive spot your spiny tail rammed into."

Alarmed, Sonic shrugged. "How was I suppose to know? And anyway, you attacked me first! So what's your problem Knuckles!"

"My problem…! I had no problem, you just happened to piss me off."

Sonic scoffed. "What! That's the best excuse you can come up with!"

Knuckles clenched a fist and pointed it at Sonic. "See? There you go again…"

"What! Knuckles, this is pointless!" Sonic exclaimed, "Fighting like this over nothing, just because you got upset, won't change a thing! We'd still be on this deserted island for who knows how long, there's no place we can turn back to, and Rouge may not ever come back! "

That did it.

"I can't BELIEVE you Sonic! You just don't stop!" Knuckles bellowed, already beginning to charge for Sonic, but the moment he took his first step, a giant hammer smashed down right in front of him from out of nowhere, but luckily he managed to jump out the way. "What the-"

"Why don't YOU stop Knuckles!" Amy stated, glaring at the fierce echidna with a fiery look of her own.

"Amy!" Sonic called to the pink hedgehog.

With a swift movement of her wrist, Amy removed her hammer from being embedded in the ground and jumped into Sonic's, un-welcoming, arms. "Oh, Sonic sweetheart, are you allright!"

"Uh…"

"I told you I'd protect you!"

"Ah…Amy…"

"What's wrong, aren't you proud of me Sonic?" Amy chirped cheerfully.

"Well I…"

Irritated, Knuckles wiped the dirt off his legs and arms from Amy's sudden attack and scoffed. "$#+ She almost killed me! Control your damn girlfriend, Hedgehog!"

"Hey!" Sonic retaliated "She's not my--!"

"Save it, Blue. I've had enough ill-natured atrocities for one day to last me a few years." Knuckles retorted, glaring at Amy. "I'm out." And with that, he kicked off the ground and glided out the way he charged in.

A bit annoyed from Knuckles behavior, and also finding himself alone with Amy, Sonic sulked and quickly separated himself from her eager embraces.

"Huh? Where are you going Sonic?"

"Um…I just remembered, I uh…had to um…take care of something."

"What?" Amy asked, narrowing her eyes and placing her hands firmly on her hips. " And just what would that be?"

"Well uh…" Sonic hesitated for a bit, then quickly pretended that he heard something in the distance by twitching his hear and cupping it. "Wait a minute…Is that Tails? "

"Tails? Oh yeah! He wanted me to tell you guys that he was able to come up with an idea to put together the scraps of the pods we landed here in and make a machine so we could get off this island!" Amy stated, unknowingly getting Sonic's undivided attention.

"He is?"

Amy nodded. "He sure is! And then I saw you two fighting like there was no tomorrow! Seriously Sonic, when you marry me and we have kids, will you still be getting into such fights? You should set a better example for our future children!"

'Future children? Oh man…this girl's lost it.' Sonic thought, then quickly spoke up. "You're allright, though, aren't you?"

Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Of course!" She then turned slightly away from Sonic and dreamily clasped her hands together.

'Allright. Here's my chance!' Sonic thought to himself as he quietly and quickly snuck away from her and left the same way Knuckles did.

"Although….even if we were stuck on this on this island for the rest of our lives, I wouldn't mind being stranded here with you. You could practice my boxercising together, or join me in my tarot study, and then we could somehow get married and have lots and lots of children and---HEY!" She paused, looking around. Finding herself alone, Amy growled and stomped her foot. "THAT SONIC!" Then, just as quickly as she became upset, her features swiftly changed to a cute and composed expression. "Awww…he's so shy! I'll have to get him out of that later, if he's going to marry me!" With a girlish giggle, she picked up her hammer and dashed off to reunite with her one and only crush.

---Ick. I'm going to say it right now. Amy. Is. Crazy. No if's, and's or but's about it. The girl is a bundle of nervous energy waiting to wrap itself around something and never let go.

In Adventure 1 and 2, she's cool. I actually missed playing as her in Adventure 2. And in Advance, she's cool. Just in Battle….oh….my goodness, what a shock. And then I found out she was 12…..

And speaking of Battle, I managed to get my hands on Sonic Battle, so I've been playing that for days… Had to collect personality data before I could write anything major. Besides, when I first started working on this story before playing Battle, it was a mess. I had to be familiar with Knuckles in order to finish this chapter…all the while listening to Sonic Battle music

Hey, don't laugh. Whatever it takes to get into character, go for it!

-Mel


	5. Reunion Part 1

Framing the Shadow: Chapter 5 (Part 1) 

Later than night, the heat of rage had subsided and dissipated into the cool air of dusk.

The four of them sat around a campfire in silence. The arid crackling from the dancing flame and the ambient sounds of the forest at night were the only sounds between them.

With his mind thinking random thoughts, Sonic's eyes wondered aimlessly into the wavering flames. Dark and clouded amethyst eyes stared back at him.

'Knuckles…' Sonic uttered in his mind. Reading his vacant stare, Sonic could tell that his thoughts were too scattered to realize where his eyes were.

Sympathetically, Sonic lowered his eyes, feeling sorry for Knuckles' heavy heart, then lifted his gaze to the star studded velvet above.

"Sonic…" Tails called softly.

"Yeah Tails…?" the hedgehog replied, turning to the little fox.

"Do you think we'll ever make it off this island?"

The cobalt hedgehog, whose fur took on a fiery orange tint from the flame, slowly looked upto his comrade. Not knowing how to answer, Sonic tried to smile. "We will. We just have to."

Tails knew that Sonic was trying to cheer him up, and smiled faintly. He then led his glistening eyes upto the sky, hoping Sonic's words would come true.

Wishing he could give a better answer, Sonic eyed Tails for a moment before turning back to the flame, and there he met eyes with Knuckles.

They two eyed each other for a moment, without saying a word. Knuckles slightly nodded to Sonic, while the hedgehog replied with a light smirk. That was their own way of letting the other know that their previous dispute had been set aside and they were again on good terms.

"Hey, Sonic..." Amy's soft voice brought Sonic's attention to her.

"Yeah, Amy?"

"Can you really guarantee that we'll make it off here? Even if we do somehow manage to leave with a machine, we could still be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no leads."

"That's true, but Eggman was with us when we landed, and he's not here. That gives us a possibility to leave too." Tails spoke up, glancing to Amy.

"I know, but even though Eggman WAS with us, and probably left us here for dead, that doesn't mean that he made it off either."

Tails frowned a little. "Yeah, but, what about Rouge? She was on the ARK too and left the same time we did, but where is-"

"Hold it, Tails!" Sonic called, trying to shush his buddy and tossed a guilty glance at Knuckles.

Knuckles frowned at the mention of Rouge, and felt upset with himself for letting her escape, but he was becoming more upset with Sonic trying to change the subject. Abruptly, he stood up and turned his back to them. "Forget it, Sonic." He uttered with a hint of a growl, then walked off toward the uncharted depths of the forest. "I need to clear my mind, anyway…"

"Well, how rude!" Amy exclaimed, crossing her arms as she watched him leave.

"Let him go, Amy…" Sonic sighed.

With a mock pout, Amy looked to Sonic. "Even if he is troubled, he shouldn't keep wandering off and moping around like he's the last man on Earth!"

"What's wrong with Knuckles?" Tails asked, slightly above a whisper, feeling as if he did something wrong to make Knuckles leave. "Was it something I said?"

"Nah, you didn't do anything wrong, buddy." Sonic said reassuringly to Tails. Seeing his young friend return to his normal bright-eyed self, Sonic smiled to him, then looked off in the direction where Knuckles left. With a nonchalant shrug, he sighed. "As for Knuckles, don't worry about him. He'll be allright."

"Then…why did he get so upset when I mentioned Rouge's name?"

Amy groaned and threw Tails an irritated look. "Don't you get it! Knuckles is in love!"

"Wh-what! Love!" Tails exclaimed, his ears perking up. Bashfully, he twisted his tails together and tugged at them. "With who…?"

"With Rouge, that's who!" Amy shot back. "It's so obvious! He's got it written all over his face!"

With a chuckle, Sonic nodded to Tails. "Yeah, I agree with Amy one that one. The poor guy's lost in his own thoughts. Hm. I guess the song is true. 'When a man loves a woman, he can't keep his mind on nothin' else' "

"Oh.." Tails uttered, a slight blush rising to his face. Embarrassed, he returned his eyes back to the lucid flame.

"That's right! And if even Knuckles of all people can fall in love, then the same can go for you, Sonic!" Amy chirped, snuggling closer to Sonic and looping her arm around his.

Sonic smiled nervously, and inched away from Amy a little. "Erm…yeah it does! But, I don't plan on settling down anytime soon. I'd like to live a bachelor's life as long as I can!"

"Oh, is that so…?" Amy questioned, her voice lowering in an alluring tone. "Well then, I'll just have to give you something that'll make loving me worth your while…"

With a jolt, Sonic leapt to his feet. "Say WHAT!"

Amy, not knowing of the double meaning in her words, also jumped up and hit Sonic in the arm. "What's the matter with you, Sonic! I was just going to make you a lunch!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Just a 'lunch', huh?" He then inched away from her. "I wonder about you sometimes…"

"Huh?" Tails innocently questioned, looking between the two of them. "I don't get it."

With a syrupy sweet smile, Amy turned to Tails. "Oh, one day when a beautiful woman confuses you and uses you as a form of entertainment, you'll understand!"

Blinking, Tails gave Amy a look that claimed her words went right over his head. "Wha?"

"Er, allright you two!" Sonic announced, a little nervously "I think it's time we call it a night!"

"Yeah" Tails agreed, yawning. "I am a bit tired…"

Amy giggled and grabbed Sonic's arm again. "Sounds great to me! Besides, I know who I'm sleeping with!"

Sonic cringed at the double meaning in her words again, and tried to pry her off of him. "A-Amy, watch what you say…"

Looking at them with wary eyes, Tails yawned again, then lay on his side and tried to get comfortable. " Tomorrow, I'll make sure that I'll have a machine ready so we can leave this island. Could you wake me up first thing in the morning, so I can get an early start, Sonic?"

Admiring his friend's enthusiasm to help in any way he could, Sonic smiled at Tails and gave him a wink. "Don't worry buddy. Getting your rest is most important right now. You can start working whenever you're ready."

With a beaming smile, Tails gave Sonic a thumbs up, then turned on his other side and prepared for dreamland.

"Sonic…" Amy almost pleaded, tugging on Sonic's arm. "Hurry up and lay down with me!"

Sonic hesitated from the double meaning in Amy's words again, but shrugged it off. "Allright, allright…I'm coming…" he sighed, laying down.

The moment his back touch the ground, Amy practically fell onto his chest and snuggled upto him. Once comfortable, she sighed and draped an arm across his chest, closing her eyes.

"Ah…This is a dream come true! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!"

Wordless for a moment, Sonic looked to Amy, who appeared quite pleased and smiled faintly. "I'm…glad you're happy, Amy.."

"Mmm…" she mumbled, already falling fast asleep.

Feeling a warm smile curve his lips, he slid an arm around her, then lifted his eyes to the vast diamond-dazzled sky above him.

"…I hope he finds it…"

Steadily flying through the cool night sky, Rouge continued her trek to her place. With a yawn, she lazily cupped her hand over her mouth, then rubbed her eyes. "Ugh, this trip is taking longer than I thought!"

"…Hm. Someone's getting tired."

With a groan, Rouge scoffed, then gave her wings another flap. "…Yeah well, I don't see you busting your spiky tail to fly across three countries in one day."

There was a pause, then a dry laugh by Shadow.

Even though it sounded odd to hear him laugh, Rouge was beyond tired to let it bother her flying. "What now?" She yawned.

" Sorry if I seem a little arid, Rouge. I can wait."

Rouge sighed, and lowered her altitude to seamlessly dodge a series of trees as she flew. "Speak for yourself. You should be more tired than I am. Although your days don't seem to involve much activity."

Shadow scoffed. **_"You don't need to insult me…"_**

Rouge sighed. "I'm not trying to Shadow, it's just…Well, what's wrong with you anyway?"

"…I think my right leg is broken…"

Rouge winced at Shadow's words, while trying to keep her mind focused on dodging darkened trees. "Oh…I'm sorry…"

There was a cough. **_"…And also my left shoulder is dislocated…The pain is too excruciating to try to put it back in place. I've already tried…"_**

"That's…not good, Shadow… You should try to rest."

Shadow chuckled dryly. **_"I would if I could close my eyes just once without feeling the pain rip through my body. Laying in this rough and itchy grass on a dislocated shoulder from trying to pop it back in place for hours…I wish I could close my eyes…"_** He coughed. **_"…I'm tired of seeing my own blood…"_**

"Oh, Shadow…" Rouge mumbled, starting to feel sympathy for him. "I understand your pain, but stop torturing yourself. It doesn't take a genius to realize that despite the pain you say you've been going through, that you managed to pick up some kind of communicator to contact me. So, if you were able to enter my frequency with one of your good hands or feet, or whatever body part, then…" She lowered her voice, so Shadow wouldn't get any hint that she was really sorry for him, and touched that he managed to call her before trying much of anything else. "…You should be able to gather the strength that you have and pull yourself up."

"…Pull myself up, huh…?"

"That's what I said. And besides…" Rouge began, trying to cheer him up, "…it would be a serious dent in your pride if you want to keep calling yourself the Ultimate Life-form."

**_"The Ultimate Life…"_** A faint sound came from Shadow that almost sounded like a laugh-A broken one, but a laugh, nonetheless. **_"…You're encouraging me? This is new."_**

Rouge chuckled, and flapped her wings a little faster than before to catch the faint air currents that barely remained. "I know you don't mind. …Do you?"

There was a pause before Shadow spoke. **_"No…not at all. It'll help keep my mind off the pain."_**

Rouge winced. "Eh? So is that why he called me…?" Rouge whispered to herself, barely missing flying into a tree.

Shadow coughed. **_"What? You're murmuring, Rouge."_**

Blushing lightly, that she was heard, she quickly tried to change the subject. "Hey, Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"Not to sound rude or anything, but why do you keep coughing…?"

Just to be amusing, Shadow coughed for Rouge. **_"…I think I caught a cold…"_**

"What!" Rouge had to control herself from laughing. Just the mere fact of the Ultimate Life-form sick with the common cold got her a little amused. "Sorry to hear that, dear..."

Shadow scoffed, but was really holding back a chuckle of his own. **_"Uh huh…"_** he said sarcastically.

'Hmm I guess he's not so bad…' Rouge thought to herself. Finding herself yawning again, she hovered in one spot as she covered her mouth.

"…Cover your mouth…"

"I am!" Rouge retaliated, yawning again. Rubbing a drowsy eye, she looked around. "It's really getting too dark to fly through these trees. I'll probably have to rest until morning." She paused for a moment. "Will you be able to hold up?"

There was a pause from Shadow, then he sighed. **_"I'll live."_** He stated gravely.

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Well that's reassuring. Anyway, I'll just take a nap until early morning…or noon. Mind you, I'd rather not have this communicator on while I'm sleeping." She half-smiled, then whispered: "Who knows what kick you'd get out of hearing me snooze."

Pretending like he didn't hear her whispering, Shadow scoffed. **_"I don't care if you snore, Rouge."_**

"I do NOT snore!"

"How would you know, if you're asleep?"

"Well I…" Rouge trailed off.

"…Unless…"

"No one ELSE has been there to tell me, I just …don't snore, and we'll leave it at that!"

"Heh. Fine by me."

"Why you…" Rouge said, starting to lower her altitude and landing. "That's it! You're getting turned off."

Shadow scoffed. **_"Who said I was ever turned on…?"_**

Blushing wildly, Rouge raised a fist. She could almost see the smug little smirk on Shadow's face! "Why you--! You---!"

Shadow laughed. **_"I was kidding. Call it humor."_**

"And an odd attempt it was."

"Anyway, just call me whenever you wake up."

A coy smile crept across Rouge's lips. "You're a slick one, Shadow. I'll have to keep my eyes on you…"

"Funny, I should be saying the same thing about you. But that's enough."

"Uh huh…." Rouge hummed, quite amused.

"…Good night, Rouge."

"Night."

And with a touch of a button on her earpiece, their communication was shut off.

Yawning again, with a stretch, Rouge lazily looked around for any comfortable places to rest.

"It's so dark out here, now…" She commented, passing through the trees. Before long, she managed to make it to a clearing. The faint scent of burned wood was in the air. "Hmm what have we here…?" she mused, walking up towards the spot where Sonic and the others had made camp.

Recognizing the hedgehogs and the little fox fast asleep, Rouge found it almost hard to hold back a playful giggle.

"Hmm…the tabloids would have a field day with this one. But I'll leave their privacy alone, for now." She smirked.

Just as she began to take another step, Amy, who was half-asleep, immediately sat up and drowsily looked around.

In a flash, Rouge had hid herself behind a tree with her back pressed against it.

Still scanning the surroundings with sleepy tears on the corners of her eyes, Amy wrinkled her nose. "…There's something old…and creepy around here that needs cleaning…" She shuddered. "Gives me the chills…" Aimlessly, her eyes trailed down to Sonic, who she instantly recognized and snuggled into his arms. "Nothing else matters now…" And after that, she was again fast asleep.

Behind the tree, Rouge crossed her arms and scoffed. "Old and creepy? That little brat is lucky she's with Sonic, or else I wouldn't hesitate to kick her little-"

blip blip! 

"What?" Rouge wondered, then smiled as she recognized the sound. "Hmm Just my luck! Looks like there's an emerald nearby!" Cheerfully, she pulled out her emerald radar and checked it.

Giving one last glance to Amy and the others, Rouge half-smiled, then took off in the direction of the forest. But instead of going inside the thick tangled mass of trees, Rouge unraveled her wings and took to the skies yet again. "That emerald is as good as mine!"

To Be Continued!

And no, I don't plan on making Amy and Sonic a couple. Maybe in another story

-Mel


	6. Reunion Part 2

**Framing the Shadow: Chapter 5 (part 2)**

Wandering aimlessly in the depths of the forest, Knuckles frowned from realizing he was lost. His mind had been raided and plagued with thoughts of that voluptuous bat woman he couldn't stop thinking of for the life of him. With an annoyed groan, he ran a mitt through his dreads and turned around. "Looks like coming here was a bad idea… I should probably head back to camp…" he uttered, looking around. "…That is if I can remember which way I came from…"

Irritated that he was lost in the middle of nowhere, Knuckles lifted his attention to the dark treetops above him, looking for an opening. "It almost goes on forever…" he grumbled. Looking down, he barely noticed the bent grass that he had previously stepped on. "Looks like this is my ticket out." He uttered.

The moment he took a step, a familiar energy coursed through him, and paused him in his tracks. Knuckles stood perfectly still as he felt the sensation ripple through his chest, his arms, then resonate at his feet.

"…A Chaos Emerald…" he muttered, turning his back on the trail and heading off in the opposite direction.

After maneuvering through the dark forest, Knuckles felt the resonating vibes grow stronger as neared closer to the emerald. "It's close."

Minutes later, Knuckles found himself in a small clearing that seemed to be the only part of the forest where the light from the sky above could shine through.

Gazing at the oasis, Knuckles led his attention upto the patch of trees where the glimmer of the pale moonlight managed to spill through and illuminate the surrounding trees in a tinted blue glow.

Wordlessly, he trailed his eyes over the small spring before him that held the gleam of the moonlight on its pure crystal-clear surface that also reflected the blue tint to everything around it, including it's current visitor.

A light smirk inched across Knuckles' lips as he recognized this to be the same spring that Sonic had fallen into during their fight.

'That hedgehog…he was practically sitting on a Chaos Emerald, and he didn't even know it…'

Without another thought, Knuckles stepped upto the spring and gazed into its clear waters for the emerald. He tried squinting, but was still unable to locate the jewel.

"I guess there's no other way." he stated, reaching a mitt into the chilling water and fishing around. Seconds later, he retracted his hand with a blue gem in his firm grasp.

Eyeing the jewel, Knuckles recognized it to be the same color as the one Rouge had thrown at him in his dream. He unknowingly clenched it tightly to his chest as he recalled his dream. "Could that have been a message of some sort…?" he wondered, gazing into the lucid water that rippled in the moonlight.

He narrowed his eyes. "…Then maybe Rouge is still…" he trailed off, roughly shaking his head. "I've got to get my mind off her!" he growled, slightly turning away. "All she's been doing is making me feel guilty that I let her go like that… Making me feel like a failure…"

Angered, Knuckles turned away from the spring, and clenched the emerald in his fist. "…She's made it very clear…that I can't protect her, or the Master Emerald …or anyone else! Probably not even myself…but I don't care… Nothing but trouble, that's all she is." He remorsefully looked down, failing to realize how hard he was clenching the emerald.

"I shouldn't even be here with Sonic and the others. I should have just gone home…Home to the Mast Emerald. That's all I need… not some saucy gold digger. All she wants is the emerald... She would never stoop low enough to care for some lonely guy like me." Knuckles frowned, while battling with his emotions as his anger began to dissipate and regret moved in its place.

"Rouge… … wherever you are…you deserve better…" he muttered sadly. Turning to leave, he almost ran from the spring when another wave of emerald energy swam through him, forcing him to turn around. Still immersed in his sadness, Knuckles neared glared at the spring. But, with an annoyed curl of his lips, he tried to push his thoughts aside and walked over to the water. Peering into it, he could feel the presence of another Chaos Emerald resonate with his being, calling him to it.

Without a word, Knuckles began to fish in the spring again, when the ruffling of the treetops above him stopped him in his search. 'Someone's coming' He thought, then briskly took his hand from the spring and glided upto the treetops that were opposite from the moon-spilled opening. Hidden in the tangled branches, and a few thorny vines as well, Knuckles eyed the spring like a hawk.

Seconds later, a figure swooped down from the moonlit opening and landed right in front of the spring. With a quick movement of their wings, Knuckles squinted his eyes to get a better look and realized the entity to be female. A small gasp escaped him when he recognized her to be Rouge.

"Rouge…!" he mumbled, almost blowing his cover. He hesitated, not knowing if he should be happy to see her or too pained to even bother with her. There was a hurtful squeeze in his heart, but he forced himself to ignore it while watching her closely.

Near the spring, Rouge looked at her radar, then in the water. Her keen eyes were quick to search and locate what she thought was the emerald. Retracting it, her bright smile faded as she found it to be just a really shiny rock and tossed it aside.

With a groan, she looked at the radar, then in the spring, and just turned the radar off. "I know you're here…" she spoke smugly.

Knuckles could feel sweat trim his brow. 'Does she know it's me?' he thought, but still didn't move from his perch. He watched as she looked around, then stepped closer to the spring. Gazing lazily into the clear water, Rouge yawned and covered her mouth. Then for some strange reason Knuckles didn't understand, Rouge turned away from the spring and lifted her attention up towards the glowing moon above.

Almost seeming to enjoy its pale glimmer, Rouge dreamily eyed it with wandering thoughts. Such a simple sight as the moon was amusing to get her mind to drift to that echidna. "Knuckles…" she muttered, lowering her eye-lids in a sympathetic manner. "…He's probably guarding the Master Emerald now…without a care in the world."

Returning her eyes to the spring before her, Rouge wordlessly gazed into it as if its pale, yet pure hue could relate to how she felt. She didn't even know if she would see him again after leaving him so abruptly on the ARK. He even sacrificed his own safety to make sure hers was allright.

"That idiot…" she muttered.

Minutes passed, taking longer than desired, before she finally shrugged it off. "Oh well. His loss!" she reassured herself, and reached in her pocket for the radar. When she pulled it out, a small slip of paper got attached to it.

"What's this…?" Rouge wondered, taking the slip between her fingers and opening it.

"…This is…his number that he gave me." Standing silent for a few minutes, Rouge remained expressionless, then silently took out her cell phone. "I guess a call wouldn't hurt.." she murmured, punching in the digits.

'Oh no…' Knuckles thought, breaking into a sweat. 'Tell me I left my cell back with Sonic! Tell me I don't have it with—'

Knuckles' feverish thoughts were interrupted when the midi melody of "Never Scared" rang through the area.

"$#!" he cursed, trying to quickly reach for his phone, when he lost his balance and he fell out of the tree--- right at Rouge's feet.

With a start, Rouge leapt back and quickly put her phone away. She was caught in a gape as she saw that listless echidna trying to push himself up off the ground. "Knuckles!" she said, almost exasperated. "What the…why you…idiot! You were spying on me, weren't you!"

With a grunt, Knuckles lifted his warrior's face to her, which had been scratched by a few of the thorns as well as the rest of him.

Noticing that he was hurt, Rouge groaned and shook her head to hide her concern for his wounds. "You could have at least turned your cell phone OFF if you wanted to achieve being stealthy. You make a terrible spy."

"Thanks but no thanks, bat-girl." He growled, rubbing the open wounds on his face with his arm.

"Is that all you can say? A hello would be nice."

"Cut it out!" he growled, standing to his feet. "What are you doing here…" he mumbled almost grimly.

Not surprised with the way he was treating her, but not happy about it, Rouge crossed her arms. "You should know me better than that. There's a Chaos Emerald here."

Knuckles felt a frown snaking across his lips from every one of her narcissistic words. "You never change, bat-girl." He said, sounding sarcastic.

Rouge haughtily closed her eyes and turned away from him. "Then why bother me?" she asked, turning to him with one eye open. "I'm not after your Master Emerald…yet."

"Rouge…" Knuckles growled through gritted teeth. He had been concerned about her the moment he lost contact with her, and now that they meet up, and in such a reflective place, this was the way their reunion had to be?

He was still angry and confused she hadn't contacted him sooner or told him where she was going when she just decided to hop in a pod and leave. And from the haughty and almost playful way she was acting towards him, he didn't even bother to think she knew how torn he was. Turning his back to her, he gazed aimlessly into the spring. The thought of cleaning his wounds in it crossed his mind. It was much too pure to have its clear waters polluted with his blood.

Rouge, who followed his attention with her eyes, glanced at the spring, then back at him. "You know there's an emerald in there."

Knuckles said nothing, but took out the blue emerald that he had gotten earlier from the spring and looked at it. Its properties were vast and remarkable, but from it being the same gem from his dream that was associated with that bat-girl, he couldn't bare to keep it now. Slowly, he held it out for her to see, but didn't place his eyes on her.

"Take it…" he uttered, barely being heard.

Rouge winced. She was surprised to see Knuckles do such a thing, yet was dazzled even more by the rich blue color. Instantly her eyes became glossed over with captivation, and she stepped upto him and took it. Gazing at it with a dreamy expression, Rouge was almost at a loss for words. "It's beautiful…" was all she managed to say.

She glanced up at Knuckles, who had taken off one of his mitts and wiped his face and arms with it. She wordlessly watched him as he reached into the spring and uncovered the remaining Chaos Emerald. Putting his mitt back on, he turned to face her with a faint smirk on his lips and held up the ivory-colored emerald.

"This one is mine. You have what you came for, and I know you didn't come here to shoot the breeze with me, so you can just fly off again."

Rouge eyed him for a moment with a raised eyebrow. Just what was he getting at? It was almost true, but still…

Giving a small smirk of her own, Rouge opened her wings to full size and flapped in one place for a moment while looking at him.

"Thanks." She said with a wink. Then with a heavy flap of her wings, she was gone.

Staring at the opening in the trees, even after she had flown off, Knuckles found himself face to face with the moon—pale, full, and sympathetic. Guilty for hiding his feelings again, Knuckles sighed and put the emerald away. Turning to face the spring, his eyes narrowed in thought.

After a few more moments of regret and deliberation, Knuckles wordlessly whisked out his cell phone and changed the tone to "Silent" before turning on his heels and leaving out the way he came in.

Humming to herself with her new piece of jewelry in hand, Rouge eyed the gem once more, then looked back at where she had flown from. She had to admit, she did feel rather burdened by her and Knuckles' awkward reunion, but she did manage to get what she dropped in for.

"Well, to say the least, I'm glad that he's still alive…as well as Sonic and that fox-boy." She said, trying to lift her spirits a little. Looking at the emerald again, she lowered her eyelids. "Now I have to get one of these to Shadow…" she muttered. Then her ears twitched as an idea slithered into her mind. "Well, he is expecting me to get him an emerald from a bank, anyway, so…this one will just be my little secret. Besides, I'll get him that emerald first thing tomorrow."

With a yawn, Rouge covered her mouth and tried to steady her wavering balance in the air. "Ugh, this is beginning to be too much!" she groused. Then looking at the emerald, she landed a short distance away on the long stretch of a beach and held the gem close.

"Sorry Shadow. I've got a thing for sapphires…" she muttered wistfully, as if she hoped Shadow could hear her. "But I promise I'll get you your emerald by tomorrow." Looking down at the blue gem in her arms, she looked at it for a moment, not only indulging in its hue, but also reflecting on her encounter with Knuckles in order to get it.

Gazing at it keenly, she was interrupted by a yawn. "I better get home…" she said.

Then, with the utter of two words, she disappeared into thin air.

But unknown to her, also on the beach, was none other than Dr. Eggman. The schematic Dr., who was unable to fall asleep, heard Rouge's quite interesting words and sat up in his beach chair. "What's this about Shadow and Chaos Emeralds?" he wondered. "Could Shadow still be alive? Hmm…I must say this sounds a bit interesting. Why don't I find our friend Shadow and get him an emerald first? He'd be willing to do whatever I say then."

With that famous cackle of his, the Dr. quickly got to work on devising a plan.

"Never Scared" is property of Bonecrusher

-Mel


	7. Closure and Conspiracy

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters!

A/N: This is long overdue but just in case he ever reads this story again, I'm giving props to DarkXeno for making a comical note about Sonic feeling up on Amy. That isn't what actually happens in this story but, its still a funny thought.

A/N: Did I mention this chapter was long overdue?

A/N: Don't get upset over the Amy bit. It was just a joke.

Framing the Shadow Part 7 

Early the next morning, the sun warmly peeked over rows of valleys and hills as it slowly ascended into the sky. Feeling the soft warmth pierce through the tree-tops and spill onto his body, Shadow groaned in discomfort before opening his eyes.

He had slept all the night with his back up against an old tree that had an uneven layer of bark wrapped around it. While anything was better than sleeping face-down on the ground, Shadow had to force himself to deal with the small pieces that poked through his fur and punctured some of his quills as he leaned against it. It was harsh, but it had to do.

Shifting his good shoulder to sort out its stiffness, the ebony and crimson hedgehog hung his head and took in a small breath.

'It's amazing I'm still surviving…' he thought, slowly lifting his head up and leaning it against the tree. Aimlessly, he allowed his eyes to wander around until they reached the sun.

Eyeing it for wordless moments, Shadow's mind became instantly ridden with thoughts.

'…Maria…is this really what you wanted? …I'm still able to live with each passing day. Could it be that my purpose isn't completed, yet? ..What is my reason for being here…?'

"…_Live…"_

His ears instantly perked up at the sound of the woman's voice. 'Who is that?' he wondered, slightly looking around. He heard the voice again, but this time realized it to be coming from the walkie-talkie-like frequency device that he had kept nearby. "…It's Rouge…" he said aloud with a faint smile. Carefully, he stretched his arm down near his ankles, and with a few piercings of pain stabbing through his body, he managed to grab the communicator and lean back against the tree. He panted for a moment as he caught his breath and relaxed his body from the sudden sheers of pain.

Holding the receiver in the palm of his hand, he looked at it for a moment before pressing a button.

"Good Morning, Rouge. You're up early…" he said placidly, trying to mask the pain.

He received no answer.

Thinking she didn't hear him, he tried it again. "Rouge? …Are you awake…?"

"…Inside…outside…"

Shadow raised a suspicious eyebrow at her almost garbled message, then spoke a little louder. "Rouge?"

"…_Livin'…livin' la viva…loca… Live…Livin'...la viva…"_

Shadow instantly became wordless as a curious expression washed over his features from Rouge's…singing. "So you're still asleep…" he uttered, directing his words to no one. "…It's rather amusing. I don't know whether to find it humorous or outright horrifying… But, for the time being…" he trailed off, setting the device next to him in the grass and leaned against the tree again, secretly listening to her talking…and singing in her sleep.

Laying comfortably in her silky bed, Rouge mumbled a few more mixed words before turning on her side. The night before, she had been so exhausted when she got home, the moment she touched the bed, she fell asleep. Her body was so drained, that she had completely forgotten about the earpiece and left it in. She slept in such a wild way, she accidentally turned it back on.

Changing position again, Rouge uttered a name while clutching the Chaos Emerald she received the night before from Knuckles protectively to her chest.

"…I'm sorry…" she uttered, barely above a whisper "…The emerald…is mine…"

There was a slight sound of brushing on Shadow's end of the line. He spoke his words softly. "…**_The emerald…? What emerald…?"_**

Half-asleep, Rouge took in his words, and sighed. "…Sapphire…"

"…**_What?"_**

"…Shad…ow…" she trailed off.

"**_Rouge? Rouge!"_** Shadow called to her, but she had already fallen into an even deeper sleep.

Placing the communicator aside, he sighed and ran a hand through his quills. "…A sapphire emerald? …Does she already have a Chaos Emerald…?"

Mentally wrestling with his unanswered questions, Shadow leaned his head against the bark and let his heavy eye-lids crumble to a close. "…She's hiding something, I know it…" he whispered as he painfully made himself forget about the aching strains on his body and forced himself into an uncomfortable slumber.

Over at the little campsite, Sonic and Tails were already up, working on Tails' invention to get them off the island. Knuckles had gotten up around the same time they did, but parted himself from them and wandered off someplace to clear his thoughts.

Thinking about it, Sonic remained wordless for a moment, while he leaned against the side of a tree watching Tails.

The little fox was eager to get started on his project right away, and seemed to work faster because Sonic was nearby.

"Need any help?" Sonic asked, catching Tails mid-way in a tune. He quickly turned to Sonic with a bright smile on his face and a blow-torch in his hand. "Nope, I got it! But thanks, anyway!" Tails cheerfully replied.

Watching him be so delighted with such dangerous types of machinery led Sonic's mind to wander, but he set his thoughts aside and glanced over at Amy.

Still fast asleep, Amy lay on her back with one hand on her stomach and her knees slightly bent to one side.

She had been in that pose for an hour, after Sonic had gotten up. Watching her with thoughtful eyes, Sonic felt a small smile creep across his lips. '…She's actually kind of cute when she's asleep…'

As if she could hear his thoughts, Amy fidgeted a bit, and turned her head to the side, in Sonic's direction. "Sonic…." She murmured, while still in a deep sleep.

Sonic's ears twitched at the sound in her voice, and half-smiled. '…I can't believe this…'

"Hey Sonic…?" Tails called to his friend, causing him to jump.

"Y-yeah? What's up? You need help with something?"

Tails blinked at Sonic's behavior, then turned to his invention and pointed to a gear wheel. "This gear is pretty rusted, but it can still move again if I had some kind of oily substance to put on it."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Okay… Does it have to be anything specific? Our resources are limited, you know."

Tails nodded, and grabbed another instrument to continue building the machine. "I know, but, almost anything will do, like sap from a tree, juice from berries…"

Sonic smirked. "You almost make it sound like you want me to get started on a picnic!"

Tails laughed. "Yeah, it does kind of sound like it, but that's all we can use. …Maybe after I'm done, we could have a picnic. It's hard working on an empty stomach…"

Sonic nodded. "Yep, sure is. But just hang in there. I'll gather up your ingredients in no time!"

"Okay, but...Sonic wait—!" Tails called, but his friend was already gone. A bit discouraged, he lowered his ears and shook his head. "Now both Sonic and Knuckles are gone…" Aimlessly, his eyes trailed over to Amy, who was still fast asleep. With a shudder, he hung his head. "…Now, I'm beginning to get worried... I've got a bad feeling…"

Deep in a secluded mass of trees, Knuckles stood perfectly still in the Bow stance with both hands raised in front of him and his legs 45 degrees apart. His eyes were closed, and his brow was furrowed, indicating the depth of his thoughts.

A lucid sound, similar to the crashing waves on a shore, ruffled through the trees above and washed over his meditating form as a light breeze and encircled him.

No words passed his lips as the wind picked up around him, but he shut it out completely.

Focusing only on the slow and steady breathing escaping from him, Knuckles took a slight step forward, and enclosed himself in the aura of his chi.

Racing through the forest of trees as if it were a simple detour road from a highway, Sonic easily avoided the sway of the winding tree trunks and gathered random objects in his arms as he passed.

"Blue-berries, raspberries, more blue-berries…aha!" he chuckled, coming to an abrupt stop. With his hands on his hips and a grin on his face, he looked up the bark of a particular tree. "This oughtta be where I can find some sap!"

Setting the berries aside, Sonic took out a small container. Just as he approached the tree, the flow of the wind passed through his quills and perked his curiosity in the traveled direction. By doing so, his eyes passed through the trees and stopped on a certain red echidna. "Hmm…and speaking of which…." Sonic mused, putting the container away and stepping closer to his comrade.

The moment stepped foot into the circling tress, he slowed his run to a mild walk and took in his surroundings. These sets of trees were the tallest he had seen in the forest.

Amused, he whistled, then glanced to Knuckles, who didn't move an inch.

The echidna made no attempts to acknowledge him, but Knuckles could sense Sonic was there.

Knowing Knuckles heard him, Sonic stepped right in front of his face and crossed his arms. "Hmmm..." he mused, waving a hand in front of Knuckles' face "Are you meditating, or sleeping on your feet?"

Knuckles said nothing, but twitched an eyebrow.

Seeing his reaction, Sonic smirked continued on. "Well, whatever you're doing, don't put too much thought into it…you might hurt yourself."

This comment received a glare from Knuckles as a grim frown slithered across his lips. "You're in my space."

Sonic shrugged. "How perceptive."

"…If you'd like to leave in one piece, I suggest you back out of it before you get a fist down your throat."

Sonic recoiled and feigned to be intimidated. "Is that a threat, or one of your strange fetishes?"

Instead of becoming agitated, Knuckles simply smirked and tightened his fist. "Why don't I let you find out!"

"Whooaaa-hooa!" Sonic cried, taking a few playful hops backwards and held up his hands in caution. "If that's the way you want to be about it, then I've got nothing to do with it Knucklehead."

A sly grin formed across Knuckles' lips and he chuckled. "That's what I thought you'd say, but guess what, THAT ANSWER ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH! Now ready yourself!"

Sonic blinked and nearly had time to dodge one of Knuckles' fists that clearly had his name on it.

"Hey!" Sonic shouted, dodging another attack. "What's the big idea?" he smirked, jumping onto a tree and hanging from one of it's limbs nonchalantly. "Wanna lose again?" he joked, making a silly face.

With a throaty chuckle, Knuckles smiled at Sonic and growled through clenched teeth: "Sorry Sonic, but I can't go giving the spotlight to you this time…"

Sonic laughed and tossed Knuckles a goofy look that just annoyed him even more. "Oh really? Who says it isn't already? I sure got your attention didn't I? Besides, for someone who was supposedly getting in touch with his 'mellow-side', you sure lost your focus pretty quick! I warned you about thinking too hard, Knuckles!"

"THAT'S IT!" Knuckles roared, nearly losing track of his balanced composure and plowed for the tree, but instead of punching it, he shook it, causing a bewildered Sonic to eye him suspiciously. "Man what's gotten into you? You've lost your touch Knuckles!"

"That's what you think!" he retaliated. "This time you're mine!"

"Eww, okay now you're creepin' me out, but whatever!" Sonic chirped, leisurely swinging from the branch and bouncing off Knuckles' head with his feet, sending the echidna in a growling fit into the ground. With a "hmph", Sonic shrugged and peered down at his new footstool. "Hey! How's the dirt down there? " he laughed and the second Knuckles rose to strike again, Sonic playfully leapt backwards and held up his hands. "Hey man, you win."

A flurry of different types of confusion ran through Knuckcles' head from that response and it clearly showed by the extremely puzzled expression on his face. Lowering a fist, he blinked. "Huh—wha—What! What do you mean I win! Are you upto something Sonic!"

The hedgehog shook his head. "No. I give. Honestly, I didn't come all the way out here to spar with you. I was actually on a technical errand for Tails, and found you here."

"So?"

Sonic shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure you were allright, that's all." He answered in a carefree manner, folding his hands behind his head in a nonchalant fashion. "Is that allright with you?"

Knuckles said nothing for a moment, taking deep slow breaths with long exhales as he closed his eyes

Not having much of a clue of why he did that all of a sudden, Sonic blinked twice and impatiently waved a hand in front of Knuckles' face. Sensing the invasion of space, Knuckles grabbed Sonic's wrist and his eyes popped open—a sly smile across his lips. "Yeah." He replied with a suave and deep tone to his voice. "Yeah that's fine. Thanks…." He smirked, then swiftly released his grip. "Heh, see ya around, Sonic." He chuckled, turning his back to Sonic and heading back to camp. Watching him go while lightly rubbing his wrist, Sonic couldn't help but smile. And the more he thought about it, that smile had already turned into a big grin, then he laughed. "You're still a hopelessly in love knucklehead, man." He commented, noting Knuckles' desperate attempt at trying to calm down from his previous concerns about Rouge and losing track of her. Then he sighed. "But you still haven't given up on her…"

And with that thought in mind, Sonic led his eyes to gaze upwards towards the treetops above and follow the travel of the loose leaves fluttering in the wind before running off to gather the rest of the materials.

--

Back at camp, Tails tinkered rapidly between his new machine and the stray pieces from the wreckage that seemed salvageable to keep himself busy. He hated it when Sonic and the others left. Whenever that happened, he always felt as if there was no one else he could talk to or relate to. Granted, Amy was usually around for him to talk to but… He paused in his work to dare a forced glance at Amy, whose position had changed to her laying on her stomach with her head turned to the side. Tails shuddered. If he were to ever tell her the others had left him there with her, she would have a fit. Worried, he shook the thoughts from his head and continued his work. "Knuckles…Sonic...somebody come back already, please!" he murmured under his breath.

And no longer than a moment later, a rush of red tore out of the forest clearing and made his way to the center of the camp. Seeing one of them come back so soon, Tails smiled and started to wave, but because both his hands were full, he proceeded to hop a little instead. "Heey Knuckles! You're back!"

Treading past the burned out campfire, Knuckles nodded to Tails with a smirk. "You bet." He then snagged a glance at Amy, who had yet again changed her position to sleeping on her side. "Sooooniiic" she muttered in gurgled gibberish.

Making a face, Knuckles slowly looked to Tails and they exchanged glances.

"Uhhh right, so anyway, you're building this new machine eh? Are you sure it'll get us off this island?"

The energetic fox nodded. "Yep sure do! None of my inventions have failed me yet!. Unless they get shot at, …or stop responding to their energy source….but! That wont happen with this one! Instead of traveling by air, we'll sail by sea! Or maybe even underwater… "

Knuckles raised an eyebrow as he watched Tails fumble with his thoughts and what his next words would be.

"Um..maybe I should let Sonic know about that first…"

Knuckles chuckled. "Naah! That would spoil the fun! I wouldn't miss watching the fuzzball turn green from sea-sickness anyday!" he mused, the thought of Sonic actually being sea sick passing through his thoughts.

Completely oblivious to Knuckles' strange ideas, Tails half-smiled and continued to build his machine.

Not liking to be the only one left out in understanding heavy, complex machinery, Knuckles turned his attention elsewhere but found his eyes glued to the sky.

It wasn't long before his mind was littered with images of 'her' again. He missed her, but everytime he thought about her, he just got furious. "Why Rouge…" he questioned under his breath. "Why…."

"…Love…"

"What?" Knuckles inquired from the sound of the soft voice. "Who said--!"

"…I love you….Soniiic…..love…you!" the groggy sounds of Amy continued, much to Knuckles' dismay.

With a heavy sigh, he mentally kicked himself for being so hopeful and tried to focus on getting off the island---and keeping a good distance away from Amy while he was at it.

"…Soooonniiiiic.." she moaned, starting to squirm slightly while still asleep. Appalled and also annoyed, Knuckles glared at her while Tails added a curious look.

Frowning, Knuckles shook his head. " Tails go wake Amy up."

"What! Why do you want me to do it? B-besides I've got work to do!" he chirped quickly and dashed back to his invention.

With an irritated groan, Knuckles shook his head. "FINE, I'll wake her up then!" he growled, then looked swiftly around on the ground. "Where's a rock..."

At that moment, a gust of wind burst through the camp, causing tree-tops to bend and dust to fly. Knowing the cause of it, Tails and Knuckles remained unphased by it. It didn't wake Amy up either, but due to the pressure of the wind, multiple objects from the trees flew off and a multitude of acorns fell and bounced around her. She stirred as if some of them hit her or made her uncomfortable, but still made no signs of waking up completely. Seconds later, Sonic appeared and waved. "Hey guys, I'm back!" he spoke cheerfully. Ignoring a sideways glare from Knuckles, Sonic eagerly gave Tails the materials he had asked for. "Here ya go Tails. Extra berries and extra sap..." he added, slipping a finger point at Knuckles, "are all right here."

"Thanks, Sonic!" Tails beamed and took the items.

Unknown to the 3 of them, a squirrel who had been shaken from its home in one of the trees frantically and greedily started heading for some of the many acorns scattered around Amy, and went after one that had rolled under the hem of her dress.

"Show off" Knuckles muttered and Sonic's ears twitched as he heard him. "Yeah thanks! You too, Red!"

Knuckles scoffed. "Hmph! Yeah thanks." He said with a grin and the two slapped hands.

"So, we're cool, now?"

"Ha…I guess… until you piss me off again that is…" Knuckles replied.

Sonic chuckled. "Fair enough!"

"Yeah, so Tails, why don't you tell Sonic what kind of invention you're building and where it plans to go…" Knuckles brought up with a sly toothy grin.

The fox looked surprised then turned red in shame and embarrassment that he didn't tell Sonic sooner. "W-well…you know where submarines go, right?"

At that moment a rippling moan quivered through the camp and the boys stopped breathing for a good 3 seconds.

"Wh-what was tha--?"

"Shh!" Sonic shushed. "Listen…!"

Knuckles looked around, bewildered and curious. "Was….that a moan….?"

Low and behold it was heard again, but this time much louder.

"nnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic" It continued. "Sonnnn uuhhhhhnn"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow . "Hey doesn't that sound like.."

"AAHHHNNN SONIC!" Amy cried in an licentious tone, rolling around on the ground kicking her legs and panting in her sleep "SONIIIIIIC! OHH!"

And in that tiny second, realization hit them.

"Oh sh—"

"Holy fu—" Both Sonic and Knuckles were unable to finish their words from the shock.

"Agh Amy not here!" Tails cried, shielding his eyes from the thought of Amy doing 'something' to herself. "I never wanted to see any of that until I was 10 years older!"

"Cork it Tails! She's not doing any of that!" Knuckles yelled, then lowered his tone "I…I think... Hey, Sonic go see what's wrong!"

"What? Why me!"

"Because its you she's calling for in her sleep, genius!"

Cringing from the weight of the responsibility, Sonic took a deep breath and reluctantly forced his way over to Amy, and actually took …his… time.

Shutting his eyes, he reached down to grab Amy by the arm to wake her up, but that just made things worse as the squirrel ran frantically, getting trapped within her skirt until Amy finally woke up, let out a scream, and kicked the closest person next to her squarely in the jaw.

Sonic fell to the ground with a thud and the confused squirrel scampered off.. A hearty and extremely loud cackle from Knuckles rang in Sonic's ears as he shook his head and pulled himself to his feet. "I hate being the responsible one…" he muttered to himself.

"Did you just SEE that?" Knuckles bellowed in laughter. "A frickin squirrel was what caused all that! Haha! I guess you should control your Sonic Booms, huh Sonic! HAAAAHAHAAA!"

"CAN IT KNUCKLES!" Amy shouted, flying over to him and swinging at him with her hammer out of nowhere.

"Ey yo! What the--!" Knuckles called, leaping out of her range.

And just as quickly, she regained her composure and ran back near Sonic with a remorseful and pitiful expression on her face. Meekly she looked over to Sonic and apologized for kicking him. "I'm so sorry Sonic! I really didn't mean...I…--"

"Don't worry about it…" Sonic stated, dusting himself off, completely ignoring Knuckles outburst and Amy's anger trip. "Meanwhile, we've got to plan to get off this island. So, are we good to go, Tails?" he asked, overlooking Amy's flushed features.

"Yep" Tails nodded nervously "Just…uh… give me a few more minutes, and we should be good to go."

"Allright" Sonic agreed, then snuck a glance at Amy. She was still a little shaken, but not as much as she was when she first woke up, and that he was glad for. Smiling faintly, he rubbed his jaw, making sure it was still in place properly and laughed. "The fun never stops does it? So, what kind of machine is this going to be Tails?"

--

Over at Club Rouge, it was already nightfall. Slowly stirring from her nap, Rouge groaned as she stretched to smooth out the kinks she received from her awkward sleeping position. Once satisfied, she placed a few elegant fingers to her mouth and shut her eyes as she yawned. With a smile, she felt around on the bed for the sapphire emerald and kissed it once she recovered it. "I hope you slept well…" she murmured to it, or was she also directing that question towards a certain echidna who gave her the emerald in the first place? After a while of holding the emerald close, she placed it on her nightstand and ironically her thoughts drifted to Shadow.

"Mmm..I wonder if Shadow's still allright out there…" she pondered aloud, searching the bed for her earpiece. She would have panicked if not for the low sounds of what she thought was snoring resounding in her ear. With a gasp, she lightly touched the part of her ear where the earpiece would be and sure enough found it to be there. Relieved, she began to laugh lightly and got out of bed. "So you do snore in your sleep, Shadow!" she smiled, totally disregarding the fact that he may have heard her talking or snoring in her sleep. Heading into the kitchen, she grabbed a quick snack out the fridge and went into the living room. Gazing up at a pair of large windows, she realized how late it was and finished her snack within seconds and dashed to the bathroom. There she took out the ear-piece and took a quick shower. Moments later, she had emerged and put the ear-piece back in while heading to her room. "Shadow…" she called softly, not wanting to startle him awake but just enough for him to hear her and respond. "Shadow…wake up..I need to talk to you."

A faint and deep sound drifted from the other side of their connection and Rouge's ears perked up eager to hear his voice. "Shadow….wake up…"

"Mmph…don..'t…don't…not me…" 

Puzzled and confused, Rouge paused in what she was doing and called a little louder to him. "Hey Shadow…speak up I can't hear you!"

Silence.

Losing her patience, Rouge raised her tone. "Shadow!"

"Leave me out of it!" 

"WAKE UP"

"**_Aggh! What…Where am I….!"_** He called, sounding frantic for a moment, then there was a pause and the sound of rustling. "**_Rou.._" **His words were cut off from the sound of rapid coughing.

Rouge almost felt sorry for him and she secretly wished for him to get a hold of himself and fast. "Shadow…? Are you...Are you still alive?" she asked, feeling stupid for asking an unnecessary question when the answer was already clear.

There was another round of coughing then a sound that was supposedly a deep and painful sounding chuckle. "**_No, I'm dying…"_**

"What! Shadow! Be serious!" Rouge cried.

"I am… But, to be fair, I'm still alive for the moment. Hmph. A lot of good that has done for me. Anyway have you found any emeralds yet?"

"…No…." she lied, sneaking s glance over to the emerald next to her bed. That emerald meant more to her than just being another pretty stone. She couldn't let Shadow know she already had one without him knowing. But deep down, she had begun to feel sorry for him with his worsening condition, and herself for being doused in guilt for not telling him the truth.

Apologizing silently to him in her mind, Rouge bit her lip then tried to sound annoyed by his question. "Don't be silly! You of all people would know if I had one. I would have been there already if I did…" she continued, feeling even worse inside for the lies she was spewing at him and hoping that he'd believe.

There was silence on the other end, then a small chuckle. "**_Allright Rouge. I believe you._"**

'Whew' she sighed in her mind, then tried changing the subject. "And you don't have to tell me about what to do next. I'm already getting myself prepped to head over to where you want me to get this emerald. Where is it anyway?"

There was a pause as if to indicate he was choosing his words. "**_In a bank…located near an abandoned warehouse …in Emerald Town…"_**

"Okay…"

"There may be suspicious security there. Keep an eye out."

"Got it…"

"…And Rouge..?"

"Yeah what?"

"….Is there something wrong..?"

Rouge suddenly froze in her actions and couldn't think of anything to say but words tumbled from her lips without her realizing. "I'm just feeling a little uneasy about this whole thing, allright."

"Why…is there something you're not telling me?" 

'Would he get off that subject!' Rouge groused in her mind. Reluctantly avoiding the question, she went to her closet and took out her black and pink sneaking suit. "It's really getting late. I just want to get this over with tonight so you can have an emerald by morning."

"Hmmm…" 

Then there was silence. Rouge knew Shadow didn't believe her and knew she was hiding something, but neither of them said nothing about it.

Silently slipping her sneaking suit on, Rouge brushed out the wrinkles and made her way out the door and flew upto the grooved rooftops of the building. Hovering above it, she allowed her eyes to take in the fullness of the sky, ripe with a silvery full moon. Her eyes glued to it, she immediately felt heavy remorse for what she did and for her betrayal…to both Shadow and Knuckles. She was even betraying herself and she didn't realize it. Eyeing the moon with a lamenting gaze that mirrored its pale glow, Rouge could only think of those two as she prepared to continue her acts of disloyalty. "Are you going to judge me too?" she muttered in a low whisper towards the moon. "You're going to hate me."

"Did you say something Rouge?" 

"No…" she responded abruptly, then changed her tone to a more casual one. "No Shadow. It was nothing." She lied.

A faint sigh emitted from the receiver.

"You know, Rouge…" 

"What?" she asked, biting her lip.

There was a slight silence, then, "**_Nothing. Forget it. Just prepare yourself allright? And come back in one piece."_**

Puzzled, but not wanting to risk questioning him, Rouge sighed and carried her remorseful eyes to the horizon before her.

Knowing what she had to do, Rouge hesitantly slipped the sapphire emerald out of her garment and kissed it. "For luck..." she whispered.

"**_What..?" _**Shadow questioned curiously.

"Nothing really that important." She retaliated quickly.

There was a slight pause, indicating that Shadow didn't quite understand or believe her but he was sarcastically amused at how long this guessing game was going on. He knew she didn't want to keep talking to him for a while, which was fine. He could sense it in her voice. So to save her the trouble of saying it, he preferred to do it for her. "**_Whatever you say Rouge. And if you don't mind, I'd like to take a nap while I wait for you… But be sure to wake me up once you get there"_**

Rouge winced at his words, and looked towards the earpiece in relief as if a huge weight had melted off her shoulders. 'How…how did he know --?' she wondered, then tried to refocus herself. 'It doesn't matter. Without him listening in on the other line until I actually get there, I can sneak in and out without him ever knowing I already have an emerald…!' With a guilty smile, and thanking goodness that he couldn't see her expression, Rouge agreed with him and nodded. "Yeah, sure thing Shadow."

"**_Sorry Rouge. You were making so many strange noises in your sleep, it was hard for me to take a nap earlier. But I had no power over that…"_** Shadow chuckled, making up an alibi to cover himself.

And Rouge didn't catch on. "What! Why you--!"

"**_Save your energy. You're going to need it."_**

At this statement, Rouge instantly got quiet and without her knowing, she blurted out. "That should be you who needs to conserve energy, not me. You're the one I'm worried about…" she added, the last sentence muffled by the biting of her lip.

The other line was silent for a moment, then a cough rippled through the transmission. "**_Sorry"_** Shadow apologized, but couldn't shake the uneasiness of her keeping something from him—something important. "**_I'm… not feeling very well. I'll contact you later Rouge."_**

"R…right. Goodbye…Shadow."


End file.
